Exploring Snowfall Variability through the High-Latitude Measurement of Snowfall (HiLaMS) Field Campaign

Abstract

The High-Latitude Measurement of Snowfall (HiLaMS) campaign explored variability in snowfall properties and processes at meteorologically distinct field sites located in Haukeliseter, Norway, and Kiruna, Sweden, during the winters of 2016/17 and 2017/18, respectively. Campaign activities were founded upon the sensitivities of a low-cost, core instrumentation suite consisting of Micro Rain Radar, Precipitation Imaging Package, and Multi-Angle Snow Camera. These instruments are highly portable to remote field sites and, considered together, provide a unique and complementary set of snowfall observations including snowflake habit, particle size distributions, fall speeds, surface snowfall accumulations, and vertical profiles of radar moments and snow water content. These snow-specific parameters, used in combination with existing observations from the field sites such as snow gauge accumulations and ambient weather conditions, allow for advanced studies of snowfall processes. HiLaMS observations were used to 1) successfully develop a combined radar and in situ microphysical property retrieval scheme to estimate both surface snowfall accumulation and the vertical profile of snow water content, 2) identify the predominant snowfall regimes at Haukeliseter and Kiruna and characterize associated macrophysical and microphysical properties, snowfall production, and meteorological conditions, and 3) identify biases in the HARMONIE-AROME numerical weather prediction model for forecasts of snowfall accumulations and vertical profiles of snow water content for the distinct snowfall regimes observed at the mountainous Haukeliseter site. HiLaMS activities and results suggest value in the deployment of this enhanced snow observing instrumentation suite to new and diverse high-latitude locations that may be underrepresented in climate and weather process studies.

A Comprehensive Northern Hemisphere Particle Microphysics Data Set From the Precipitation Imaging Package

“…The Haukeliseter (HAK) and Kiruna (KIS) sites played integral roles in the High‐Latitude Measurement of Snowfall (HiLaMS) campaign (Cooper et al., 2022). This campaign aimed to harness snowflake microphysics observations to refine surface snow accumulation estimates during the winters of 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 in Scandinavia (Cooper et al., 2022; Schirle et al., 2019; Shates et al., 2021). Located in Norway's Telemark region at Haukeliseter on a mountain plateau, the HAK site (59.81°N, 7.21°E, 991 m.a.s.l.)…”

“…Operated by the Luleå University of Technology, the research emphasis at KIS was on delineating snowfall attributes within a subarctic taiga forest (Schirle et al., 2019). This location was chosen for its frequent, intense snowfall from September to May, and its stark climatic contrast to Haukeliseter (Cooper et al., 2022). Notably, the influence of the warmer Atlantic Ocean on this inland site is mitigated by Sweden's tallest mountains, situated roughly 75 km southwest of Kiruna.…”

“…In this paper, we present a comprehensive particle microphysics data set derived from a series of video disdrometers developed and built by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) called precipitation imaging packages (PIPs). The PIP instruments examined here were deployed at 10 locations across the NH with observations beginning in 2014, to provide high‐quality estimates of particle microphysics at minute‐timescales (Cooper et al., 2022; Houze et al., 2017; Lerber et al., 2017; Mariani et al., 2022; Munchak et al., 2022; Pettersen, Bliven, et al., 2020; Pettersen, Kulie, et al., 2020; Pettersen et al., 2021; Shates et al., 2021; Tiira et al., 2016). The resulting data set is: (a) packaged into a common, Climate and Forecast (CF)‐compliant, accessible data format using the network Common Data Form (NetCDF‐4) which is underlain by the Hierarchical Data Format version 5 (HDF5) for storing scientific data in a tabular form; (b) temporally standardized with minute‐scale observations of particle size distributions (PSDs), vertical velocity distributions (VVDs), effective density distributions (rho), an equivalent density particle mass retrieval (eD) and derived snowfall and rainfall rates in daily files; and (c) quality controlled to remove erroneous data points, with improved alignment between PIP product levels.…”

Multi‐Year Analysis of Rain‐Snow Levels at Marquette, Michigan

“…The METEK MicroRain Radar 2 (MRR) is a 24 GHz (K band) vertically profiling frequency‐modulated, continuous wave Doppler radar (Klugmann et al., 1996). The MRR is portable and relatively inexpensive, and uses relatively low power, which make it useful for observing precipitation across remote regions including mountainous sites and Antarctica (Cooper et al., 2022; Gorodetskaya et al., 2014; Kneifel et al., 2011; Schirle et al., 2019; Shates et al., 2021). The MRR was originally deployed and evaluated for measuring rainfall in remote regions (Maahn & Kollias, 2012; Peters et al., 2002).…”

Introducing the Video In Situ Snowfall Sensor (VISSS)

“…In situ observations have also been used to characterize particle size distributions (Kulie et al, 2021;Fitch and Garrett, 2022), investigate sedimentation velocity and turbulence of hydrometeors (Garrett et al, 2012;Garrett and Yuter, 2014;Li et al, 2021;Vázquez-Martín et al, 2021b;Takami et al, 2022), and for model evaluation (Vignon et al, 2019). In combination with ground-based remote sensing, in situ snowfall data have been used to validate or better understand remote sensing observations (Gergely and Garrett, 2016;Li et al, 2018;Matrosov et al, 2020;Luke et al, 2021), to develop joint radar in situ retrievals (Cooper et al, 2017(Cooper et al, , 2022, and to train remote sensing retrievals (Huang et al, 2015;Vogl et al, 2022).…”