Orographic enhancement of snowfall

A. J. Dore, T. W. Choularton, D. Fowler, A. Crossley

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    Field studies have been conducted at a hill site in Scotland to measure the variation with altitude of wet deposition by snowfall. The results showed that, due to wind drift effects, snowflakes were captured very inefficiently by snow collectors. It was therefore not possible to measure an increase in precipitation with altitude. The average concentrations of principal ions dissolved in the snow water were calculated over a two-month period. The results showed that the concentrations increased by factors of between 1·4 and 1·9 with an altitude rise of 400 m. A model of the orographic enhancement of snowfall by the seeder-feeder effect showed that the orographic enhancements of precipitation and pollutant deposition were significantly greater for snowfall than for rainfall. The wind drift of snow crystals and the evaporation of precipitation in dry valley air were important in determining the patterns of deposition. © 1991.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)175-179
    Number of pages4
    JournalEnvironmental Pollution
    Volume75
    Issue number2
    Publication statusPublished - 1992

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