NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Gwich'in Settlement Area

Tags: physical sciences, environmental assessment, monitoring, snow accumulation, snow

Objective(s): To develop a next-generation method to accurately measure Arctic snowfall under a range of environmental conditions typical across the Arctic.

Project Description: This licence has been issued for the scientific research application No. 5743. The objective of this proposal is to develop a next-generation method to accurately measure Arctic snowfall under a range of environmental conditions typical across the Arctic. The specific objectives are: 1) Measure key snowfall parameters using state-of-the-art instruments as required to estimate snowfall during the Arctic winter, 2) Quantify snowpack sublimation using a combination of field measurements and modelling, 3) Quantify the average snow on the ground to compare to 1 and 2, 4) Compare snowfall, sublimation and snow on the ground to validate new snowfall methods. Field research experiments will be carried out at the multiinstitutional Trail Valley Creek Research Observatory (TVC-RO) located in the Arctic tundra 50 km north of the Inuvik Airport, Northwest Territories (NWT) and 75 km south of the Arctic Ocean. The snow environment of TVC-RO can be characterized by long term ECCC data from the Inuvik airport. The average uncorrected snowfall at the Inuvik Airport weather station is 121 mm/yr and the snowcovered period is typically from early October to late May. Previous studies have outlined the large difference between measured snowfall at TVC-RO and snow on the ground. Specific field methods are as follows: Key instrumentation required for A-Snow that is currently installed at TVC-RO includes: 1) three weather stations at a lowland, upland, and forested patch, with each measuring wind speed and direction; temperature and humidity; all wave radiation; and snowfall using shielded standard snow gauges, 2) an upward looking precipitation radar (micro rain radar; MRR), 3) three cosmic ray sensors that measure average snow water equivalent (SWE) over an area of 300 m in diameter around each sensor. These are installed at upland sites prone to snow erosion, 4) two cosmic ray systems that measure SWE at points along transects that traverse blowing snow accumulation zones, 5) a blowing snow particle detector, and 6) a snow pillow located in a low wind forested site. The electrical power systems at TVC-RO ensure that these instruments run unattended throughout the entire winter. TVCRO also has a nested system of three eddy covariance systems located on towers from 2 to 10 m in height. These systems will measure sublimation losses from the snow cover. However, the TVC electrical system can not ensure that these high-power requirement instruments run continuously during the dark, mid-winter periods. Instead, we will ensure that these systems run for key periods during the winter to measure sublimation during typical blowing wind events. This existing observing system will be enhanced by a series of instruments currently available from the A-Snow research team: 1) a hotplate precipitation gauge to measure low snowfall rates and during periods of high winds, 2) an optical-laser disdrometer will be installed to measure snowfall fall speed and particle sizes. These will provide critical information to reduce the scatter in the snow gauge collection efficiency, 3) A intensive observation campaign for March-April 2024 is being planned, where by students and staff will be on-site at TVC to make surface weather observations. This includes close-up photography of snowflakes, ice crystals and other precipitation particles (e.g., hail, ice pellets etc) . These observation periods are critical to ensure the accuracy of instrumentation and to verify conditions that can be difficult for instruments to discern, such as periods of freezing fog, very light snowfall, etc. The researchers will utilize the aforementioned TVC research team that operate the TVC site and already have contacts and communication with local stakeholders and community organizations. However, for previous similar field campaigns the researchers also perform outreach events aimed towards school groups where by an outline of our research campaign and images of the snowflakes and ice crystals observed during the field work will be presented. As yet, such outreach has not been organized. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from: March 01 - April 30, 2024