Abstract. Drifting snow sublimation is a physical process containing phase change and heat change of the drifting snow, which is not only an important parameter for the studying of polar ice sheets and glaciers, but a significant one for the ecology of arid and semi-arid lands, where snow cover is the main fresh water resource. However, in the previous studies drifting snow sublimation near surface was ignored. Herein, we built a drifting snow sublimation model containing vertical moisture diffusion equation and heat balance equation, to study drifting snow sublimation near surface. The results showed that though drifting snow sublimation near surface was strongly reduced by negative feedback effect, relative humidity near surface didn’t reach the saturation state caused by vertical moisture diffusion. Therefore, the sublimation near surface will not stop in drifting snow near surface. The sublimation rate near surface is 3–4 orders of magnitude higher than that at 10 m. And the mass of snow sublimation near surface accounts for even more than half of the total if the wind velocity is small. Therefore, drifting snow sublimation near surface can't be neglected.