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I n s t r u m e n t s

a n d

M e t h o d s

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FIRST OBSERVATIONS ON THE CORRELATIONWITH SNOW TRANSPORT BY WIND

relationbetween thedurationofsnowerosion(oraccu-
mulation)andtheweather parameters(essentiallywind
speed anddirection). As an example, the following graphs
accumulation of snow and 4 & 5 for erosion. These phases
represent a ten-day period,a typical accumulation due toare characterized by:
snowfall and a period of erosion due to wind transport of1.The strengtheningof wind speed (blowing from South
the snow. The curves of the 4 snow depth sensors are dis-Southwest) during the day of April 19th and the begin-
playedonthefigure5.Concurrently,onfigure6,thening of a snowfall.
strengtheningof wind velocity and the shift of wind direc-2.During the night between April 19thand 20th,the tem-
tion can be observed. The latter is strongly correlated withporary weakening of wind speed while a weak snow-
the slope aspect to determine the wind velocity efficiencyfall persists.
on the snow pack.
During this period (between the middle of April 19 thand
the end of April 22nd ),here are 5 main phases, 1,2 & 3 for

IMAGE Imgs/art3814.gif

Figure 5: These first snow depth data display a snow transport period of 48 hours.

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