THE INFLUENCE OF SNOW COVER ON LOCAL CLIMATE IN GREENLAND

Abstract

Study of thermal storage in the local environment (landscape and climatologic air) provides an approach to an understanding of surface-created local climates, such as those in snow-covered regions. Such a local climate, dominated by the snow surface, occurs 40 to 45 per cent of the time on the Greenland icecap, in spite of convexity of ferrain. In winter, the local climate is distinguished by long-term thermal storage of 100 to 1.50 calories per square centimeter in a three-layer environment. This heat, conserved from periods of advection of maritime air into interstorm periods, supplies two-thirds of the heat lost from the local climate. In summer, short-term thermal storage conserves approximately 30 cal/cm2 from the high-sun to the low-sun part of the day. During the daily cycle, the range in radiation balance is 17 cal cm?2 hr?1: but because the regional specific heat is small, range in snow and air temperature is relatively large. In addition to its value in applying meteorology to problems of engineering and military design and operations, the study of thermal characteristics of local climates also has value in research on the relations between surface and atmosphere. The ?classic? theory of influence of snow cover on climate does not accurately describe the local climate over a snow surface, even when, as in Greenland, modifying factors are much less important than in other snow-covered regions.