Snow shaped from strong continuous winds
by Harald Schellander, ZAMG - Zentralanstalt für Meteorologie und Geodynamik, Austria, Innsbruck, Austria
Snowpack on a mountain ridge at roughly 2700m. Modeling of the spatial distribution of the alpine snow cover poses a great challenge. Snow is a "hot" material whose temperature is always close to the melting point. As such, snow is constantly undergoing a transformation due to highly variable gradients of water vapor pressure. In addition, always present winds cause a lateral snow transport. Modeling this redistribution is a complex challenge itself. Both processes together build the foundation for forming an avalanche.
Taken on 30
January
2009
Submitted on 12 Feb 2018
Categories
- Atmospheric Sciences (843)
- Climate: Past, Present & Future (672)
- Cryospheric Sciences (664)
- Natural Hazards (479)
Location
- Europe (3496)
- Southern Europe (1513)
- Italy (381)
- Exact location (11.6518 E, 46.8934 N)
Tags
snow, wind, avalanche, metamorphism, natural hazard, hot material, snowload, snowpack, modeling
Colour palette
Download original file
1552 × 2205 px;
image/jpeg; 2.0 MB
Camera:
Nikon D200
Software: Lightroom
Licence
Credit: Harald Schellander (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)
Share this
Click to appreciate
Report