Modelling snowdrift sublimation and its effect on the moisture budget of the atmospheric boundary layer

A one-dimensional atmospheric surface layer model including turbulent diffusion and gravitational settling of suspended snow particles is used to simulate vertical profiles of snowdrift sublimation rates and the associated effects on the humidity and temperature profiles in the lowest 10 m. The simulations show that the thermodynamic feedback effects associated with snowdrift sublimation, i.e., strong increases in humidity and cooling, can significantly reduce the snowdrift sublimation rate, in particular in strong winds when large numbers of particles are being suspended. This negative feedback occurs because snowdrift sublimation depends on the undersaturation and temperature. Mechanisms that take away moisture from the surface layer, such as entrainment or horizontal advection of dry air, tend to weaken this feedback and enhance modelled snowdrift sublimation as the air generally remains undersaturated. Near the surface, however, the thermodynamic feedbacks dominate in strong winds, reducing the upward moisture flux from the surface. Then, snowdrift sublimation is the main contributor to the upward moisture flux at 10 m. Interestingly, in strong winds, the simulated total upward moisture flux in snowdrifting conditions is less than that in similar non-drifting conditions. Hence, the model results indicate that occurrence of snowdrift sublimation may, counterintuitively, eventually lead to a reduction of the surface-atmosphere moisture transport.