Blowing snow measurements at Mizuho Station and Dome Fuji Station, Antarctica

Abstract

Blowing snow observations were carried out at Mizuho Station, Antarctica from Sept. to Nov. 2000. A blowing snow observation system including snow particle counters (SPC) which can sense not only the number of snow particles but also their diameters, was situated on a 30m tower. All instruments worked properly and the data obtained revealed profiles of mass flux and particle size distributions as a function of the friction velocity. Since the SPC is found to be useful to evaluate precipitation as well, it was set at Dome Fuji Station from Feb. 2002 to Jan. 2003, and measurements of snowfall as well as blowing snow were undertaken.