Abstract
Morphological characteristics of snow ripples formed by drifting snow were investigated as functions of wind velocity in a cold wind tunnel at -15 °C. Wave-length, wave height and migration rate of snow ripples increased from 5 to 20 cm, 3 to 5 mm and 1 to 8 cm/min, respectively, with increasing wind velocity from 5 to 7 m/s. Measured size distributions of snow particles in snow ripples showed sorting of large particles in ridges, suggesting that the snow ripple migration is caused by creeping of large particles. The snow drift rate caused by creep, that is, by the ripple migration, was estimated to amount, at least, to 6% of the total snow drift rate.
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Kosugi, K., Nishimura, K. & Maeno, N. Snow ripples and their contribution to the mass transport in drifting snow. Boundary-Layer Meteorol 59, 59–66 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00120686
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00120686