Meteorological regime of the Elbrus high-mountain zone during the accumulation period

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Abstract

Unique automated meteorological observations were carried out on the southern slope of Elbrus, near Pastukhov Rocks, at 4700 m a.s.l., during the 2021–2022 accumulation season. Data were obtained on air temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, snowdrift and radiation fluxes with a temporal resolution of 1 minute or less. Analysis of the data series showed that the representative winter air temperature at this altitude on the southern slope of Elbrus is –10 °С, and the minimum is –36.4 °С; the partial pressure of water vapor does not exceed 3.5 hPa. At the same time, the average daily maximum of wind speed amounted 13.1 m s–1 with the absolute maximum of 54.1 m/s. Snowstorms with a snow transport intensity of more 0.1 kg/m2s–1 are quite common phenomenon in winter, while the maximum average value of the transport reaches 0.87 kg/m2s–1. An empirical relationship was established between the average hourly wind speed and the maximum gust speed for the same period, and it was shown that for these conditions the wind gust exceeds the average hourly wind speed by 1.8 times, while the representative value of the standard deviation of wind speed is 5.8 m s–1. This information may be useful not only for the glaciologic problems and modeling, but also for construction and engineering surveys, which are relevant in view of the present-day active development of the mountain ski infrastructure on the southern macro-slope of the Elbrus. In addition, the obtained series of instrumental observations were used to assess the quality of reanalysis data for high mountain regions taking as an example the ERA5. The ERA5 reanalysis was demonstrated to reproduce rather successfully the air temperature, wind speed and humidity in high mountain conditions, but extreme values for all these parameters are underestimated. Thus, the minimum temperature in winter turned out to be overestimated by 2 °C, and the maximum was underestimated by 4 °C, while the wind speed, according to the ERA5 reanalysis, never exceeded 40 m/s during the above observation period. It is also shown that the FlowCapt4 acoustic blizzard gauge (driftometer) can be used to estimate average wind speeds since it is less sensitive to severe high-altitude conditions compared to acoustic and cup anemometers.

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About the authors

E. D. Drozdov

Institute of Geography RAS; Lomonosov Moscow State University

Author for correspondence.
Email: drozdov.jeka@yandex.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow; Moscow

P. A. Toropov

Institute of Geography RAS; Lomonosov Moscow State University

Email: drozdov.jeka@yandex.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow; Moscow

V. K. Avilov

Institute of Problems of Ecology and Evolution A. N. Severtsov RAS

Email: drozdov.jeka@yandex.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow

A. Yu. Artamonov

Institute of Atmospheric Physics A. M. Obukhov RAS

Email: drozdov.jeka@yandex.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow

A. A. Polyukhov

Lomonosov Moscow State University; Hydrometcenter of Russia

Email: drozdov.jeka@yandex.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow; Moscow

I. V. Zheleznova

Lomonosov Moscow State University

Email: drozdov.jeka@yandex.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow

Yu. I. Yarinich

Lomonosov Moscow State University; Institute of Atmospheric Physics A. M. Obukhov RAS

Email: drozdov.jeka@yandex.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow; Moscow

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Supplementary files

Supplementary Files
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1. JATS XML
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2. Fig. 1. Research area (Elbrus Mountain) (а) with the position in the Caucasus (б) and the measuring complex in the accumulation zone of the Garabashi Glacier (Pastukhov rocks) in 2021–2022 (в): 1 — the Gill sonic anemometer; 2 — “lightning protection brushes”; 3 — Rotronic thermohygrometer;4 — HukseFlux net radiometer; 5 — box with Campbell logger and mobile data transmission device; 6 — ISAW FlowCapt4 acoustic driftometer. The punsons show: “AWS Pastukhov Rocks” — a measuring site (height 4720 m a.s.l.) and the Western peak of Elbrus (5642 m a.s.l.).

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3. Fig. 2. Observation data series for the period from 09/01/2021 to 06/01/2022 from the AWS at Pastukhov Rocks (а): 1 — air temperature at 2 m; 2 — total short-wave radiation flux density; 3 — reflected short-wave radiation flux density; 4 — upward long-wave radiation flux density; 5 — downward long-wave radiation flux density; 6 — radiation balance; 7 — partial pressure of water vapor; 8 — wind speed at 2 m; 9 — snowdrift transfer intensity at 1 m; distribution functions for radiation balance (б), air temperature at 2m (в), partial pressure of water vapor (г), average wind speed (д), daily wind speed maximum (е), snowdrift transfer intensity (ж). Arrows and captions show extreme and distribution mode values.

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4. Fig. 3. Spectral density functions for data series of temperature (а), relative humidity (б) and wind speed (в) according to the Pastukhov Rocks AWS measurements with a discreteness of 1 minute from 09/01/2021 to 06/01/2022. The shaded areas and labels show different scale variability.

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5. Fig. 4. Scatter diagram for 30-minute average wind speed values according to measurements using the ISAW FC4 acoustic driftometer and Gill WindMaster acoustic anemometer from 09/01/2021 to 09/23/2021 (а) and scatter diagram for 1-hour average wind speed values according to measurements using ISAW FC4 acoustic driftometer and ERA5 reanalysis data at the 550 hPa pressure level from 09/01/2021 to 06/01/2022 (б).

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6. Fig. 5. Partial pressure of water vapor for the entire observation period (а): 1 — according to direct observations from the Pastukhov Rocks AWS; 2 — according to ERA5 reanalysis data at the 550 hPa pressure level. Scatter diagram for 1-hour average air temperature according to measurements from the Pastukhov Rocks AWS and ERA5 reanalysis data at the 550 hPa level for the entire observation period (б).

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