Abstract
A linear theory is used to model windflow over a tundra landscape, taken as an example of complex topography. The autocorrelation between gradients at different points in this landscape has an exponential dependence on separation, characterized by a correlation length. Areal variances of simulated windspeeds are proportional to the variance of the topographic gradient. Simulations with synthetic topographies having the same correlation structure show that the constants of proportionality in these relationships depend on the correlation length. Statistics of snow sublimation and transport calculated using simulated windspeed distributions in a distributed blowing-snow model are found to be in good agreement for real and synthetic topographies.
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Essery, R. Spatial Statistics Of Windflow And Blowing-Snow Fluxes Over Complex Topography. Boundary-Layer Meteorology 100, 131–147 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1019211120818
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1019211120818