Changing Cold Regions Network

Wind driven redistribution of snow is a natural phenomenon that has profound impacts on avalanche safety, cold climates engineering, and annual water budgets. Wind loading affects springtime snow depletion rates and acts as a large component of growth for most small mountain glaciers. In complex terrain, this process is further complicated by topographically driven (or influenced) turbulent structures spanning a wide spectrum of temporal and spatial scales. My research investigates non-steady blowing snow mechanics in alpine terrain, focusing on saltation initiation, transition to suspension, and connections with coherent near surface boundary layer structures. Utilizing Particle Tracking Velocimetry and high frequency wind measurements in a natural alpine environment allows further refinement of our understanding of the physical process driving blowing snow.

See the Spotlight on Student Research: Studying the mechanics of blowing snow in alpine terrain

• N. Aksamit, and J. Pomeroy. 'Near-Surface Snow Particle Dynamics from Particle Tracking Velocimetry and Turbulence Measurements during Alpine Blowing Snow Storms,' The Cryosphere Discuss., doi:10.5194/tc-2016-95, 2016.

• Robert Falside Stoddart Memorial Scholarship, 2016
• American Geophysical Union Cryosphere Innovation Award for Students, 2015
• J.H. Richards Graduate Award, University of Saskatchewan, 2014
• Saskatchewan Innovation and Opportunity Scholarship, University of Saskatchewan, 2014
• Department of Geography, Graduate Student Scholarship, 2013-Present

• BSc, MSc Mathematics at University of Utah