Item: A PRACTITIONER'S PERSPECTIVE ON TOOLS FOR UNDERSTANDING WIND FIELDS, SNOW DRIFT, AND SNOW DISTRIBUTION
-
-
Title: A PRACTITIONER'S PERSPECTIVE ON TOOLS FOR UNDERSTANDING WIND FIELDS, SNOW DRIFT, AND SNOW DISTRIBUTION
Proceedings: Proceedings, International Snow Science Workshop, Whistler, BC, Canada, 2026
Authors:
- Holt Hancock [ Mountain Hazards, Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, Tromsø/Oslo, Norway ]
- Kjersti Gisnås [ Mountain Hazards, Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, Tromsø/Oslo, Norway ]
- Peter Gauer [ Mountain Hazards, Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, Tromsø/Oslo, Norway ]
- Nikolas Aksamit [ Institute for Mathematics and Statistics, UiT – The Arctic University of Norway ]
- Anna Poltronieri [ Institute for Mathematics and Statistics, UiT – The Arctic University of Norway ]
- Christian Jaedicke [ Mountain Hazards, Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, Tromsø/Oslo, Norway ]
- Anders Kleiven [ Mountain Hazards, Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, Tromsø/Oslo, Norway ]
Date: 2026-09-28
Abstract: Understanding how, where, and when snow accumulates due to blowing and drifting snow processes plays a key role in avalanche forecasting, hazard mapping, and design of structural mitigation measures. Despite the recognized importance of wind redistribution in controlling avalanche activity and the availability of multiple tools to simulate wind and snow conditions in mountain environments, avalanche workers still experience challenges incorporating snow drift processes into operational workflows. In this work, we use spatially-distributed snow height measurements obtained from terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) at two sites in Norway during the 2024/2025 winter season to validate and compare a range of approaches for parameterizing snow drift and predicting snow distribution. We simulate or recreate the observed snow distribution patterns using methods spanning a continuum of model complexity from semi-empirical, terrain-based parameterizations, to open-source wind field models, to physically-based numerical models representing snow particle trajectories. We evaluate model outputs against TLS-derived snow height changes to assess each approach's ability to capture key features of snow deposition and erosion in the context of practical avalanche work. Our results highlight the strengths and limitations of different modeling approaches and provide insight into how model complexity, spatial resolution of forcing data, and computational efforts influence model output utility. These findings will help to support practitioner decision-making when selecting tools appropriate for specific forecasting, planning, or engineering applications.
Object ID: ISSW2026_O4.5.pdf
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15788/1790098596
Language of Article: English
Presenter(s): Holt Hancock
Keywords: snow drift, blowing snow, wind, avalanche forecasting, planning.
Page Number(s): 1006 - 1013
-