snowfall

The primary objectives of GCPEx are to obtain coordinated high quality in situ and remote sensing observations of falling snow events in a northern latitude climate. Such systems are prevalent in the Ontario region in the December- February timeframe where monthly mean snowfall amounts are approximately 40, 30 and 25 cm/month for December, January and February, respectively. Furthermore, the primary choice for DC-8 operations (Bangor, Maine) will allow potential sampling of Nor’Eastern Blizzards and heavy snow events over St. Johns Newfoundland (site of current NCAR snowfall measurements...

Frozen precipitation is particularly difficult to measure from space due to the wide variability in snowflake shapes and behavior. Snowflakes can have different impacts on the active and passive instruments signals compared to liquid precipitation, which is further complicated by a weak signal to noise ratio resulting from different scattering properties of liquid verses frozen precipitation. In recent years, the capability to quantify liquid precipitation from space has been greatly enhanced with the addition of several measurement capabilities from low-Earth orbit, most notably from passive...

Falling snow is critically important for society in terms of freshwater resources, atmospheric water and energy cycles, and ecosystems. However, there are few archives of falling snow around the world that can be used to improve measurements from satellites. GCPEx will make detailed in situ observations of cloud and frozen precipitation microphysics to improve these databases. Falling snow represents a primary contribution to regional atmospheric and terrestrial water budgets, particularly at high latitudes. While often overlooked, precipitation falling in the form of snow is critically...