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Volume 11
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10.3390/atmos11080785
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Article

The Precipitation Imaging Package: Assessment of Microphysical and Bulk Characteristics of Snow

by
Claire Pettersen
1,*,
Larry F. Bliven
2,
Annakaisa von Lerber
3,
Norman B. Wood
1,
Mark S. Kulie
4,
Marian E. Mateling
5,
Dmitri N. Moisseev
3,6,
S. Joseph Munchak
7,
Walter A. Petersen
8 and
David B. Wolff
2
1
Space Science and Engineering Center, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA
2
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, VA 23337, USA
3
Finnish Meteorological Institute, Helsinki, Finland
4
Advanced Satellite Products Branch, NOAA/NESDIS/Center for Satellite Applications and Research, Madison, WI 53706, USA
5
Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA
6
Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
7
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
8
NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL 35808, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Atmosphere 2020, 11(8), 785; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos11080785
Submission received: 11 June 2020 / Revised: 8 July 2020 / Accepted: 15 July 2020 / Published: 24 July 2020
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Measurement and Modeling of the Precipitation Particle Size Distribution)
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Abstract

Remote-sensing observations are needed to estimate the regional and global impacts of snow. However, to retrieve accurate estimates of snow mass and rate, these observations require augmentation through additional information and assumptions about hydrometeor properties. The Precipitation Imaging Package (PIP) provides information about precipitation characteristics and can be utilized to improve estimates of snowfall rate and accumulation. Here, the goal is to demonstrate the quality and utility of two higher-order PIP-derived products: liquid water equivalent snow rate and an approximation of volume-weighted density called equivalent density. Accuracy of the PIP snow rate and equivalent density is obtained through intercomparison with established retrieval methods and through evaluation with colocated ground-based observations. The results confirm the ability of the PIP-derived products to quantify properties of snow rate and equivalent density, and demonstrate that the PIP produces physically realistic snow characteristics. When compared to the National Weather Service (NWS) snow field measurements of six-hourly accumulation, the PIP-derived accumulations were biased only +2.48% higher. Additionally, this work illustrates fundamentally different microphysical and bulk features of low and high snow-to-liquid ratio events, through assessment of observed particle size distributions, retrieved mass coefficients, and bulk properties. Importantly, this research establishes the role that PIP observations and higher-order products can serve for constraining microphysical assumptions in ground-based and spaceborne remotely sensed snowfall retrievals.
Keywords: precipitation; snowfall rate; snow mass retrieval; snow microphysics; video disdrometers precipitation; snowfall rate; snow mass retrieval; snow microphysics; video disdrometers

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Pettersen, C.; Bliven, L.F.; von Lerber, A.; Wood, N.B.; Kulie, M.S.; Mateling, M.E.; Moisseev, D.N.; Munchak, S.J.; Petersen, W.A.; Wolff, D.B. The Precipitation Imaging Package: Assessment of Microphysical and Bulk Characteristics of Snow. Atmosphere 2020, 11, 785. https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos11080785

AMA Style

Pettersen C, Bliven LF, von Lerber A, Wood NB, Kulie MS, Mateling ME, Moisseev DN, Munchak SJ, Petersen WA, Wolff DB. The Precipitation Imaging Package: Assessment of Microphysical and Bulk Characteristics of Snow. Atmosphere. 2020; 11(8):785. https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos11080785

Chicago/Turabian Style

Pettersen, Claire, Larry F. Bliven, Annakaisa von Lerber, Norman B. Wood, Mark S. Kulie, Marian E. Mateling, Dmitri N. Moisseev, S. Joseph Munchak, Walter A. Petersen, and David B. Wolff. 2020. "The Precipitation Imaging Package: Assessment of Microphysical and Bulk Characteristics of Snow" Atmosphere 11, no. 8: 785. https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos11080785

APA Style

Pettersen, C., Bliven, L. F., von Lerber, A., Wood, N. B., Kulie, M. S., Mateling, M. E., Moisseev, D. N., Munchak, S. J., Petersen, W. A., & Wolff, D. B. (2020). The Precipitation Imaging Package: Assessment of Microphysical and Bulk Characteristics of Snow. Atmosphere, 11(8), 785. https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos11080785

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