The genesis of snowdrifts and its governing processes are not fully
understood. Yet, the assessment of snow redistribution by the wind is
essential in snow-affected regions for risk management, water resources
and mitigation tactics. Factors such as flow turbulence and snow
properties showed to be crucial for the snow-wind interaction on flat
terrain. In this work, we add a third component and investigate the
drifting mechanisms of snow around complex building structures using
numerical Euler-Lagrange simulations. The German Antarctic research
station Neumayer III is investigated in particular. Results show that
structure-borne snowdrifts are strongly influenced by the wind forcing,
precipitation, snow cohesion and fine changes in the obstacle shape.
Thus, these factors should be cautiously included in numerical models
simulating snow transport at small scales.