Physics of Arctic Snowpacks and Climate

Snow plays a critical role in Arctic and worldwide climates. However, Arctic snow cover challenges most sophisticated models, as those were initially developed to describe snow in temperate and alpine regions. Formation, accumulation, and metamorphism processes of Arctic snow are specific to polar regions and our knowledge on spatial and temporal variability of those processes is limited by a lack of data. This limits our empirical understanding of the physical processes governing the evolution of Arctic snowpacks and the surface energy balance of polar regions.

Hosted at the Canadian High Arctic Research Station in Ikaluktutiak (Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, Canada), this field school aims to provide an advanced hands-on training to improve each participant’s knowledge of dynamic and thermodynamic processes controlling snow cover and their relation to climate using state-of-the-art instruments and models. Exchange and roundtable discussions with Inuit community members will allow students to acknowledge the richness of traditional knowledge while acquiring a better understanding of the Inuit perspective on snow and how northern communities are confronted to issues arising from climate variability and change.

This school is a joint initiative of the Sentinel North program at Université Laval and the GRIMP laboratory at Université de Sherbrooke.

This school will be offered in English.

Application deadline: January 15, 2023

Registration and information : https://sentinellenord.ulaval.ca/en/arcticsnow2023