Ha-Young Yang

Characteristics of Precipitable Water Vapor and Liquid Water Path by Microwave Radiometer

Based on the observation of the microwave radiometers at Cheongju, Hapcheon and Daegwallyeong in Korea, the precipitable water vapor and liquid water path have been analyzed for spatio-temporal characteristics. The observed datas have been validated by comparing precipitable water vapor between the microwave radiometer and the radiosonde near the sites. It resulted in the correlation coefficient of more than 0.8 in all three sites. For three regions, the precipitable water vapor shows similar seasonal variation and diurnal cycle, and that amount of precipitable water vapor increases from around 1000 LST and has a maximum value at 1900 LST. On the other hand, the liquid water path of microwave radiometer has regional differences for its seasonal variation, which seems to be caused by the geographical characteristics including the frequent fog and clouds in Daegwallyeong, a high mountain region (834 m from sea level), almost flat land in Chengju, and Sobaek Mountains in Hapcheon that blocks the westerly clouds.

A Case Study on the Impact of Ground-based Glaciogenic Seeding on Winter Orographic Clouds at Daegwallyeong

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of ground-based glaciogenic seeding on orographic clouds in the Daegwallyeong area on 13 March, 2013. The experiments was conducted by releasing silver iodide (AgI) under following conditions: surface temperature below , wind direction between 45 and , and wind speed less than . Two seeding rates, (SR1) and (SR2), were tested to obtain an appropriate AgI ratio for snowfall enhancement in the Daegwallyeong area. Numerical simulations were carried out by using the WRF (Weather Research and Forecast) model with AgI point-source module which predicted dispersion fields of AgI particles. The results indicated that the target orographic clouds contained adequate amount of supercooled liquid water and that the dispersion of AgI particles tended to move along the prevailing wind direction. To validate the seeding effects, the observation data from FM-120 and MPS as well as PARSIVEL disdrometer were analyzed. In this case study, glaciogenic seeding significantly increased the concentration of small ice particles below 1 mm in diameter. The observation results suggest that SR1 seeding be reasonable to use the ground-based seeding in the Daegwallyeong area.

Case Study of Ground-Based Glaciogenic Seeding of Clouds over the Pyeongchang Region

Ground-based glaciogenic seeding experiments were conducted at the Daegwallyeong Cloud Physics Observation Site (CPOS) from 2012 to 2015 for the target area Yongpyeong, which lies 9 km away. The preseeding (NOSEED) and seeding (SEED) periods were defined based on the simulation results of AgI concentration (>10 L−1) in the Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) model with the modified Morrison scheme in microphysics. It was difficult to determine whether snow enhancement via seeding occurred over the entire target area due to uncertainties associated with limitations such as observations and numerical model based on only two points (seeding and target sites). However, in three of four cases, the vertical reflectivity from micro rain radar, total concentration, and average size of snow particles observed at PARSIVEL and precipitation increased in the seeding effect time. In two of four cases, the simulated increased precipitation during the seeding effect time was also observed. In one case that did not show changes after seeding, it is analyzed that a sufficient cloud depth was not supplied to the seeding region due to the blocking effect of the Taebaek Mountains.