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| Titel |
Analyzing the importance of wind-blown snow accumulations on Mount |
| VerfasserIn |
Alexander Nestler, Matthias Huss, Rouben Ambartsumian, Artak Hambarian, Sandra Mohr, Flavio Santi |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2013
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 15 (2013) |
| Datensatznummer |
250073289
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| Zusammenfassung |
| Armenia’s climate has a predominantly continental character with high amounts of
precipitation and low temperatures during wintertime and a lack of precipitation together
with high temperatures during summer. On the volcano Mount Aragatz, snow is
relocated by strong winds into massive accumulations between 2500 and 4100 m
a.s.l. during the winter season. These snow accumulations appear every winter in
regular patterns as cornices on the lee side of sharp edges, such as those of ridges
and canyons, which are arranged in a radial manner around the central crater. The
biggest cornices almost outlast the hot period and provide considerable amounts
of melt water until they disappear completely by the end of August. Snow melt
water is known to have a high economic importance for agriculture on the slopes of
Mount Aragatz and in the surroundings of Armenia’s captial Yerewan. The aim of
this study is to estimate the quantity of water naturally stored as snow on Mount
Aragatz, and to what degree the use of geotextiles can prolong the lives of these snow
accumulations.
The characteristics and the spatial distribution of snow cornices on Mount Aragatz were
determined using classical glaciological methods in June/July 2011 and 2012, involving snow
depth soundings, water equivalent measurements and snow melt monitoring using ablation
stakes, together with GPS mappings and classifications obtained from satellite images of the
snow cornices. The combination of these data with ASTER DEMs and local weather data
allows the modelling of the formation of wind-driven snow accumulations. Statistical
relationships between the measured extent and volume of the snow cornices and surface
parameters such as slope, aspect and curvature are established. In order to analyze the
meltdown of the snow accumulations and the consequent impacts on runoff generation and
the hydrological regime, a glacio-hydrological model integrating topographic parameters and
meteorological data is applied. The combination of in-situ field data and satellite
information allows an estimation of the water volume that is stored in the form of
snow on Mount Aragatz. Using numerical modelling, we extend these results to
other years, and calculate past and future water yields from snow melt from Mount
Aragatz.
This study is performed in the frame of the Armenian-Swiss project ”Freezwater” that
aims at an artificial managing of snow melting to better time the release of melt water at
low cost. In the past few years, an artificial glacier was built up successfully, and
geotextiles were used to reduce the melt rates of snow cornices. In order to estimate the
efficiency of geotextiles in delaying the melt-down, ablation rates of protected snow
surfaces were compared to those of uncovered areas. This study will contribute to the
understanding of aeolian processes within the cryosphere as well as it will help to gain
engineering knowledge concerning a new and efficient water storage technique. |
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