In this article led by Charles Amory, we describe the implementation of drifting snow in the model MAR.

Drifting-snow occurs when strong wind blows above a snow covered area: snow can be eroded and put into the atmosphere.

In Adelie Land (Antarctica), this process is of high importance since it is very frequent and it deeply modifies both the snow/ice surface and the atmosphere. However, many models don’t represent it because of the complexity of the phenomenon and the spatial scale considered.

In brief: here is a state of the art atmospheric model, designed to be applied in polar regions, with a rather complex drifting-snow scheme.

See how frequently MAR simulates drifting-snow in Adelie Land (a region in Antartica):

For more information, see the full document: https://gmd.copernicus.org/articles/14/3487/2021/