Characteristics of Drifting Snow at Mizuho Station, Antarctica

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Abstract
Observations of drifting snow were carried out at Mizuho Station (70°42'S, 44°20'E, 2230 m above sea level), East Antarctica, in 1982. Drift flux was proportional to about the 8th power of wind velocity above 1mand about the 4th power below 0.1 m, while snow drift transport rate was proportional to about the 5th power. For drift flux at 1 m height, the power had a temperature dependence, decreasing above -20 °C. Visibility was proportional to about the -8th power of wind velocity; this is explained by the power relation between drift flux and wind velocity. The repose angle of drifting snow particles was observed by the inclination of a cone-shaped deposit on a disk; it was more than 80° when snow was falling and less than 80° without precipitation. The fall velocity of drifting snow particles, obtained by time-marked trajectories of particles, was between 0.3 and 0.9 m/s, and depended on wind velocity and snow particle shape.

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