Meteorological Drivers of Blowing Snow Events at the ARM North Slope Alaska Site.

Blowing snow is common in polar regions and is a key factor in the generation of blizzard-like conditions that poses a major threat to human life. Besides societal impacts, blowing snow and associated sublimation influence the surface energy budget and surface mass balance. For example, it is believed to play a critical role in the evolution of Arctic sea-thickness by reducing the amount of snow accumulated on the sea-ice surface, which is a pressing issue with the warming climate and Arctic Amplification. Currently, most models do not include blowing snow as there has not been widespread validation of blowing snow parameterizations. Fortunately, the Atmospheric Radiation Measurements (ARM) North Slope Alaska (NSA) site contains instrumentation that allows for the detection of this process from 2003 to 2022. NSA is situated along the Arctic coast in the city of Utqiaġvik, Alaska.

There are two objectives for this study. The first goal is to use particle size distribution (PSD) data from the Precipitation Imaging Package (PIP) and the Laser Precipitation Monitor (LPM) to identify periods of blowing snow at ARM NSA. This information is coupled to surface meteorological data to understand when blowing snow occurs. From this initial study, a long-term record of blowing snow frequency will be developed for the history of the ARM NSA site. The second objective will identify meteorological regimes associated with blowing snow events. Synoptic patterns will be classified with Self Organizing Maps (SOMs). SOMs will be initialized and trained using ERA5 Reanalysis mean sea level pressure (MSLP) data from January 1979 to February of 2022. Collectively, this will give a climatology of blowing snow from January 1979 to February of 2022 for NSA.

This study will determine the ability of the SOMs to classify weather patterns of specific atmospheric processes. Determining the weather patterns associated with blowing snow will allow for thorough validation of other modeling efforts. Eventually, this will lead to ample knowledge to confidently incorporate these schemes into weather and climate models. The incorporation of blowing snow into weather and climate models will allow for better forecasting of reduced visibility conditions and allow for the inclusion of blowing snow in models that evaluate sea-ice evolution.