GCPEx: What We Don't Know About Snow
GPM Deputy Project Scientist Gail Skofronick-Jackson discusses GPM's snowfall measurement capabilities and the challenges of measuring snow.
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snowfall
Snowflakes!
This image of falling snowflakes was taken by the Snow Video Imager (SVI) at one of the auxiliary ground sites, the Steamshow Fairgrounds, 5 miles (8km) south of the main CARE site, during a light snowfall on Saturday, January 21. The SVI is set up about two feet off the ground and the snowflakes are falling from top to bottom through the frame. They can be seen here in different three-dimensional orientations at 5x magnification. In the top left corner and the center right, you can see two examples of classic six-sided dendrite snowflakes. The other flakes with crystals growing up and down
Snow Video Imager (SVI) Instrument at C3VP
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The Snow Video Imager (SVI) set up to record snowfall during the C3VP Campaign.
The SVI is also being used during the GCPEx field campaign.
Falling Snowflakes Seen by the Snow Video Imager
Image Caption
This image of falling snowflakes was taken by the Snow Video Imager (SVI) at one of the auxiliary ground sites at GCPEx, the Steamshow Fairgrounds.
The SVI is set up about a foot off the ground and the snowflakes are falling from top to bottom through the frame. They can bee seen here in different three-dimensional orientations at 5x magnification.
Uncooperative Mother Nature
Walt Petersen is the Ground Validation Scientist for GPM, based at Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. He manages all of GPM's ground validation operations including GCPEx, and today writes to us from the CARE site in Ontario. It is January 23rd and once again Mother Nature has shown us what she thinks of our field campaign plans…..and our ability to plan and execute based on a prediction of what she will throw our way. Kind of bizarre really; we came up here to sample strong Canadian snow storms, and today we ended up targeting a heavy rain event. Of course, we can plan -- as we did -- but
GPM's Snow Ground Validation Underway
The GPM Cold-season Precipitation Experiment (GCPEx) to measure falling snow is currently underway in Ontario, Canada. The field campaign, which runs from January 17 to February 29, 2012, is designed to improve satellite estimates of falling snow and test ground validation capabilities for GPM. Learn more about GCPEx: Airborne Campaign to Measure Falling Snow (press release) GCPEx Overview GCPEx Campaign Blog Ground Validation Image Gallery GPM on Twitter GPM on Facebook
Up in the Air in the DC-8 Over the Weekend
Gail Skofronick-Jackson is the Deputy Project Scientist for GPM at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. She specializes in the remote sensing of snow, and is currently in Bangor, Maine where the DC-8 airborne research laboratory is stationed for the GCPEx campaign. She wrote to us over the weekend about Saturday's flight to get background measurements from no-snow conditions. Interior of the DC-8 plane. Look at all that legroom! Credit: NASA / Gail Skofronick-Jackson Today we are taking a short flight to measure surface information over our GCPEx field campaign region. It is important
Day 2: Planning for Snow
Ben Johnson is a scientist at Goddard Space Flight Center who specializes in remote sensing of snow. This week he is at the CARE site in Ontario as one of the mission scientists for the GCPEx ground validation. Inside the operations trailer. It's a cramped and busy space. Credit: NASA / Ben Johnson Tuesday night we had a good snowfall after having rain for most of the day. About 5-10 cm of snow fell in a very short amount of time. We were able to get some good measurements from the ground equipment, some of which is shown in the pictures. Also, the NASA DC-8 aircraft arrived in Bangor Maine
