Characteristics of Drifting Snow at Mizuho Station, Antarctica

Observations of drifting snow were carried out at Mizuho Station (70°42'S, 44°20'E, 2230 m above sea level), East Antarctica, in 1982. Drift flux was proportional to about the 8th power of wind velocity above 1 m and about the 4th power below 0.1 m, while snow drift transport rate was proportional to about the 5th power. For drift flux at 1 m height, the power had a temperature dependence, decreasing above -20 °C. Visibility was proportional to about the -8th power of wind velocity; this is explained by the power relation between drift flux and wind velocity. The repose angle of drifting snow particles was observed by the inclination of a cone-shaped deposit on a disk; it was more than 80° when snow was falling and less than 80° without precipitation. The fall velocity of drifting snow particles, obtained by time-marked trajectories of particles, was between 0.3 and 0.9 m/s, and depended on wind velocity and snow particle shape.