Accurate microscale windfields computations over complex topography is crucial to many particle transport models but remains a challenging task. The objective of this work focuses on the numerical simulations of micro-scale windfields over the steep Gaudergrat ridge, located in the Swiss Alps. These windfields are computed with the objective of driving a snowdrift model, consequently the work concentrates on meteorological situations close to snow storms. As snow transport occurs in the first meters above the surface, this implies a very fine resolution of order tens of meters.

Airflow simulations are performed using the meteorological model ARPS (Advanced Regional Prediction System), which is based on a Large Eddy Simulation (LES) formulation of the compressible Navier-Stokes equations.