Atmospheric boundary layers in complex terrain and over ice, snow and vegetated surfaces

Recent field campaigns held at the Val Ferret watershed in 2012 provided turbulent measurements in the atmospheric surface layer with and without snow cover. The turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) over the snow was reduced in comparison to the measurements obtained over bare surface. The “smoothing” of the surface by snow probably has a small role to play in the decrease of the TKE but the importance of the snow cover itself still has to be determined. Recent measurements obtained during the Plaine Morte 2013 field campaign using sonic anemometers are analysed. We discuss how the snowpack impacts the atmospheric turbulence under various snowpack conditions.