Modeling Studies on Blowing Snow Process Associated with Extreme Arctic Weather

Abstract:

The co-occurrence of a strong anticyclone and an intense cyclone in the Arctic resulted in strong winds, unusually warm temperature and, in turn, a striking polynya event north of Greenland in February 2018. During this event, the extremely strong winds (>25 m/s) at the surface may have also caused another physical process - blowing snow, an uplift and horizontal transport of surface snow by winds. But this process has not been well investigated in the Arctic. In this study, we applied a snow/ice-enhanced Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF-ice) model to simulate and examine blowing snow processes and associated air-snow-ice interaction during this polynya event from February 22 to 26 2018. WRF-ice realistically captured the synoptic anticyclone centered over the Barents Sea and the cyclone between North Atlantic and Canadian Arctic that caused strong southerly winds and warm air advection from the GIN Seas to north of Greenland. Comparison of the simulations with and without the blowing snow process shows that the blowing snow has moistening and cooling effects within the lower atmosphere and, accordingly, increased cloud cover and associated downward longwave radiation. Effects of the blowing snow on surface air-sea energy exchanges during this unusual polynya event are also quantitatively analyzed.