Project Title

Collaborative Research: Snow transport in katabatic winds and implications for the Antarctic surface mass balance: observations, theory, and numerical modeling

Summary

Event Number:
O-315-M
NSF / OPP Award 2034874

Program Director:
Dr. Rebecca Gast

ASC POC/Implementer:
John Rand / Randolph Jones

Principal Investigator(s)

Dr. Scott Thomas Salesky
salesky@ou.edu
University of Oklahoma
Norman, Oklahoma

Location

Supporting Stations: McMurdo Station
Research Locations: McMurdo/Ross Ice Shelf

Description

The goal of this project is to advance understanding of snow transport and redistribution by near-surface katabatic winds, which have critical implications for the surface mass balance of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. The evolution of the ice sheets through snow deposition, erosion, and transport in katabatic winds (which are persistent across much of the Antarctic) remains poorly understood due to the lack of an overarching theoretical framework, scarcity of in situ observational datasets, and a lack of accurate numerical modeling tools. To achieve the main research objectives, the investigators will conduct a field campaign to measure the mean flow and turbulent structure of katabatic winds and snow transport. Observations will be used to develop a unique feature: resolving numerical algorithm capable of representing the fine-scale physics of snow transport, redistribution, and sublimation in katabatic winds. The new model will produce insights at an unprecedented level of detail of katabatic transport processes, enabling an accurate quantification of snow transport in the Antarctic surface mass balance.

Field Season Overview

During the 2024-25 field season, a science team of three will deploy to McMurdo Station to install instruments on a 30-meter micrometeorological tower which will then operate autonomously for 12 months, monitoring winds, temperature, radiation, turbulence and blowing snow. In the 2025-26 season, science team members will return to decommission and retrograde their equipment. The tower/research site is located on the Ross Ice Shelf along Williams Field Road, approximately two miles from the Scott Base Transition. Antarctic Support Contract staff will erect the tower and provide all climbing support needed. Note that this field deployment will be combined with that for another project, led by Professor John Cassano.

Deploying Team Members