Winter Precipitation Depths Across The North Slope Of Alaska Simulated From The Weather Research And Forcasting Model And Snowtran-3D

Abstract

Accurately predicting snow distribution and blowing snow conditions in the Arctic is critical to the design of ice road construction and maintenance as well as for predicting water supplies and runoff during snowmelt, estimating the cost of snow removal, and forecasting tundra travel conditions. A current atmospheric model used by both the operational weather prediction and research communities is the Weather Research and Forecasting model. However, the built-in snow schemes in the model neglect redistribution of snow via wind, one of the key processes in snow pack evolution. This study will involve three parts: (1) diagnostic of the differences in the current snow schemes of the model, (2) evaluation of the model's snow schemes as compared to observational data, and (3) asynchronous coupling of the SnowTran-3D to model predictions using a simple algorithm. The approach provides a simple method for the prediction of snow distribution, improving the realism of current snow distribution models, and will be easily employable for both operational and research applications.