Influence of snow properties, air flow and design on structure-borne snowdrifts at Neumayer Station III

The genesis of snowdrifts and its governing processes are not fully understood. Yet, the assessment of snow redistribution by the wind is essential in snow-affected regions for risk management, water resources and mitigation tactics. Factors such as flow turbulence and snow properties showed to be crucial for the snow-wind interaction on flat terrain. In this work, we add a third component and investigate the drifting mechanisms of snow around complex building structures using numerical Euler-Lagrange simulations. The German Antarctic research station Neumayer III is investigated in particular. Results show that structure-borne snowdrifts are strongly influenced by the wind forcing, precipitation, snow cohesion and fine changes in the obstacle shape. Thus, these factors should be cautiously included in numerical models simulating snow transport at small scales.