Abstract
As the wind becomes strong, snow particles repeat an impact/rebound/ejection on the snow surface, and blowing snow develops three-dimensionally. In this study, we investigate how blowing snow develops horizontally perpendicular to the wind direction during the splash process on a hard snow surface using a low-temperature wind tunnel. The obtained results showed that as the wind velocity increased from 6.0ms−1 to 8.0ms−1, the horizontal impact velocity increased, and the impact angle approached the wind direction due to the air resistance acting on the snow particles. The mean horizontal plane rebound velocity was 0.66 times that of the impact velocity. The ratio of the horizontal plane rebound velocity to the horizontal plane impact velocity of individual snow particles was widely distributed, ranging approximately from 0.2 to 1. Besides, large rebound snow particles were experimentally observed in the direction perpendicular to the horizontal plane wind direction, which had not been captured by previous observations from a vertical cross-section. The distribution of the horizontal plane rebound angle was explained by the geometric relationship of the collision. These snow particles are responsible for development horizontally perpendicular to the wind direction. In addition, as the wind velocity increased, the percentage of the blowing snow mass flux in the vertical and perpendicular directions to the wind changed slightly. The development in the direction perpendicular to the wind direction may have been weaker because the number of collisions with the snow surface decreased as the wind speed increased.
