Binod Pokharel

Snow Growth and Transport Patterns in Orographic Storms as Estimated from Airborne Vertical-Plane Dual-Doppler Radar Data

AbstractAirborne vertical-plane dual-Doppler cloud radar data, collected on wind-parallel flight legs over a mountain in Wyoming during 16 winter storms, are used to analyze the growth, transport, and sedimentation of snow. In all storms the wind is rather strong, such that the flow is unblocked. The sampled clouds are mixed phase, shallow, and generally produce snowfall over the mountain only. The 2D scatterers’ mean motion in the vertical along-track plane below flight level is synthesized using one radar antenna pointing to nadir, and one 30° forward of nadir. This yields instantaneous cross-mountain hydrometeor streamlines.The dynamics of the orographic flow dominate the precipitation patterns across the mountain. Three patterns are distinguished: the first two contain small convective cells, either boundary layer (BL) convection or elevated convection, the latter likely due to the release of potential instability in orographically lifted air. In these patterns the cross-mountain flow is relatively un...

Evaluation of Collocated Measurements of Radar Reflectivity and Particle Sizes in Ice Clouds

Measured 94-GHz reflectivity in midlevel, stratiform ice clouds was compared with reflectivity calculated from size distributions determined with a particle imaging probe. The radar and the particle probe were carried on the same aircraft, the Wyoming King Air, ensuring close spatial correspondence between the two measurements. Good overall agreement was found within the range from 218 to 116 dBZ, but there is an important degree of scatter in the results. Two different assumptions about particle density led to calculated values that bracket the observations. The agreement found for reflectivity supports the use of the data for establishing relationships between the measured reflectivity and ice water content and between precipitation rateandreflectivity.Theresultingequationforicewatercontent(IWCvsZ)agreeswiththeresultsofLiuand Illingworth within a factor of 2 over the range of overlap between the two datasets. The equation here reported for precipitation rate (PR vs Z) has a shallower slope in the power-law relationship than that reported by Matrosov as a consequence of sampling particles of greater densities. Because the radar and the particle probe were collocated on the same platform, errors arising from differences in sampling locations and volumes were minimized. Therefore it is concluded that the roughly factor-of-10 spread in IWC and in PR for given Z is, primarily, a result of variations in ice crystal shape and density. Retrievals of IWC and PR from cloud radar data can be expected to have that level of uncertainty.

The Impact of Ground-Based Glaciogenic Seeding on Orographic Clouds and Precipitation: A Multisensor Case Study

AbstractA case study is presented from the 2012 AgI Seeding Cloud Impact Investigation, an experiment conducted over the Sierra Madre in southern Wyoming to study the impact of ground-based glaciogenic seeding on precipitation. In this case, on 21 February, the temperature in the turbulent boundary layer above cloud base in the target region was just below −8°C, the target orographic clouds contained liquid water, and the storm was rather steady during the measurement period, consisting of an untreated period, followed by a treated period. Eight silver iodide (AgI) generators were used, located on the windward mountain slope. This study is unprecedented in its diversity of radar systems, which included the W-band (3 mm) profiling Wyoming Cloud Radar (WCR), a pair of Ka-band (1 cm) profiling Micro Rain Radars (MRRs), and an X-band (3 cm) scanning Doppler-on-Wheels (DOW) radar. The WCR was on board a research aircraft flying geographically fixed tracks, the DOW was located on the main mountain pass in the t...

The impact of ground‐based glaciogenic seeding on clouds and precipitation over mountains: A case study of a shallow orographic cloud with large supercooled droplets

This paper examines the impact of ground-based glaciogenic seeding on a shallow, lightly precipitating orographic cloud with rather large (~35 µm) supercooled droplets. The storm was observed on 22 February 2012 as part of the AgI (silver iodide) Seeding Cloud Impact Investigation experiment in Wyoming. The cloud base (top) temperature was about −5°C (−12°C). Vertical velocity data from an airborne Doppler W-band (3 mm) profiling Wyoming Cloud Radar (WCR) indicate broad ascent due to the strong wind (20 m s-1) impinging on the terrain and small pockets of intense updrafts. The large droplets, low droplet and ice particle concentrations, and strong updrafts lead to natural snow growth mainly by accretion (riming). The treated (seeded) period is compared with the preceding untreated period. The main target site, located on a mountain pass, was impacted by AgI seeding, according to a trace chemistry analysis of the falling snow. Data from three radar systems were used in the analysis of the impact of seeding on snow growth: the WCR, two Ka-band (1.2 cm) profiling Micro Rain Radars , and an X-band (3 cm) scanning polarization Doppler-on-Wheels radar. This case is complicated somewhat by a natural increase in cloud liquid water and in snow growth by riming, starting halfway during the seeding period, and continuing after seeding ended. Composite data from the centimeter-wave radar systems indicate an increase in low-level reflectivity during seeding, even after accounting for the natural trend observed in the upwind control region. A precipitation particle probe at the main target site shows an increase in concentration of both small and large hydrometeors.

Dual-Polarization Radar Data Analysis of the Impact of Ground-Based Glaciogenic Seeding on Winter Orographic Clouds. Part I: Mostly Stratiform Clouds

AbstractThe impact of ground-based glaciogenic seeding on wintertime orographic, mostly stratiform clouds is analyzed by means of data from an X-band dual-polarization radar, the Doppler-on-Wheels (DOW) radar, positioned on a mountain pass. This study focuses on six intensive observation periods (IOPs) during the 2012 AgI Seeding Cloud Impact Investigation (ASCII) project in Wyoming. In all six storms, the bulk upstream Froude number below mountaintop exceeded 1 (suggesting unblocked flow), the clouds were relatively shallow (with bases below freezing), some liquid water was present, and orographic flow conditions were mostly steady. To examine the silver iodide (AgI) seeding effect, three study areas are defined (a control area, a target area upwind of the crest, and a lee target area), and comparisons are made between measurements from a treated period and those from an untreated period. Changes in reflectivity and differential reflectivity observed by the DOW at low levels during seeding are consistent...

Blowing Snow as a Natural Glaciogenic Cloud Seeding Mechanism

AbstractWinter storms are often accompanied by strong winds, especially over complex terrain. Under such conditions freshly fallen snow can be readily suspended. Most of that snow will be redistributed across the landscape (e.g., behind obstacles), but some may be lofted into the turbulent boundary layer, and even into the free atmosphere in areas of boundary layer separation near terrain crests, or in hydraulic jumps. Blowing snow ice crystals, mostly small fractured particles, thus may enhance snow growth in clouds. This may explain why shallow orographic clouds, with cloud-top temperatures too high for significant ice initiation, may produce (usually light) snowfall with remarkable persistence. While drifting snow has been studied extensively, the impact of blowing snow on precipitation on snowfall itself has not.Airborne radar and lidar data are presented to demonstrate the presence of blowing snow, boundary layer separation, and the glaciation of shallow supercooled orographic clouds. Further evidenc...

A Case Study of Cloud Radar Observations and Large-Eddy Simulations of a Shallow Stratiform Orographic Cloud, and the Impact of Glaciogenic Seeding

AbstractThe impact of glaciogenic seeding on precipitation remains uncertain, mainly because of the noisy nature of precipitation. Operational seeding programs often target cold-season orographic clouds because of their abundance of supercooled liquid water. Such clouds are complicated because of common natural seeding from above (seeder–feeder effect) or from below (blowing snow). Here, observations, mainly from a profiling airborne Doppler radar, and numerical simulations are used to examine the impact of glaciogenic seeding on a very shallow (<1 km), largely blocked cloud that is not naturally seeded from aloft or from below. This cloud has limited but persistent supercooled liquid water, a cloud-base (top) temperature of −12°C (−16°C), and produces only very light snowfall naturally. A Weather Research and Forecasting Model large-eddy simulation at 100-m resolution captures the observed upstream stability and wind profiles and reproduces the essential characteristics of the orographic flow, cloud, and...

Role of a Cross-Barrier Jet and Turbulence on Winter Orographic Snowfall

AbstractNatural small-scale microphysical and dynamical mechanisms are identified in a winter orographic snowstorm over the Sierra Madre Range of Wyoming during an intensive observational period (IOP) from the AgI Seeding Cloud Impact Investigation (ASCII; January–March 2012). A suite of high-resolution radars, including a ground-based scanning X-band dual-polarization Doppler on Wheels radar, vertically pointing Ka-band Micro Rain Radar (MRR), and airborne W-band Wyoming Cloud Radar (WCR), and additional in situ and remote sensing instruments are used in the analysis. The analysis focuses on a deep postfrontal period on 16 January 2012 (IOP2) when clouds extended throughout the troposphere and cloud liquid water was absent following the passage of a baroclinic front. A turbulent shear layer was observed in this postfrontal environment that was created by a midlevel cross-barrier jet riding over a decoupled Arctic air mass that extended above mountaintop. MRR and WCR observations indicate additional regio...

Freshly Formed Aerosol Particles: Connections to Precipitation

University of Wyoming Department of Atmospheric Science Abstract Aerosol particle measurements made onboard the Wyoming King Air research aircraft during the summer and winter of 2006 are examined in the context of aerosol particle source and sink processes. These measurements were obtained over the North-Eastern Pacific (off the coast of northern California) and over a high-elevation valley in southeastern Wyoming. Our focus is on measurements of the concentration of recently formed particles with diameters between 0.003 and 0.015 μm; these are supplemented with airborne radar observations of precipitation. The summer/marine measurements suggest that recently formed particles appear in response to removal of larger particles by precipitation. The winter/continental measurements demonstrate that the recently formed particles are scavenged via their interaction with precipitation. It appears that attachment to ice crystals is the dominating sink process in this context. Emphasis on these recently formed particles, and their interaction with precipitation, is motivated by recognition that both their genesis and removal are linked to the hydrologic cycle.