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Journal Paper

Journal Paper

Journal Paper

Journal Paper
Year of Publication 2015 Division Applied Meteorology Research Division
Title Study on Characteristics of Snowfall and Snow Crystal Habits in the ESSAY (Experiment on Snow Storms At Yeongdong) Campaign in 2014
Author 서원석
Coauthor 은승희, 김병곤, 고아름, 성대경, 이규민, 전혜림, 한상옥, 박영산
ISBN(ISSN) 1598-3560 Name of Journal 대기지
Category (International/Domestic) 국내 Vol. No. 25
Research Project Title 응용기상기술개발연구 (2015년) Publication Date 2015-06-30
Keywords Snowfall, snow crystal habits, ESSAY, Yeongdong

Abstract

Characteristics of snowfall and snow crystal habits have been investigated in the campaign of Experiment on Snow Storms At Yeongdong (ESSAY) using radiosonde soundings, Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), and a digital camera with a magnifier for taking a photograph of snowfall crystals. The analysis period is 6 to 14 February 2014, when the accumulated snowfall amount is 192.8 cm with the longest snowfall duration of 9 days. The synoptic situations are similar to those of the previous studies such as the Low pressure system passing by the far South of the Korean peninsula along with the Siberian High extending to northern Japan, which eventually results in the northeasterly or easterly flows and the long-lasting snowfall episodes in the Yeongdong region. In general, the ice clouds tended to exist below around 2~3 km with the consistent easterly flows, and the winds shifted to northerly~ northwesterly above the clouds layer. The snow crystal habits observed in the ESSAY campaign were mainly dendrite, consisting of 70% of the entire habits. The rimed habits were frequently captured when two-layered clouds were observed, probably through the process of freezing of super-cooled droplets on the ice particles. The homogeneous habit such as dendrite was shown in case of shallow clouds with its thickness of below 500 m whereas  arious habits were captured such as dendrites, rimed dendrites, aggregates of dendrites, plates, rimed plates, etc in the thick cloud with its thickness greater than 1.5 km. The dendrites appeared to be dominant in the condition of cloud top temperature specifically ranging −12 ~ −16oC. However, the association of snow crystal habits with temperature and super-saturation in the cloud could not be examined in the current study. Better understandings of characteristics of snow crystal habits would contribute to preventing breakdown accidents such as a greenhouse destruction and collapse of a temporary building due to heavy snowfall, and traffic accidents due to snow-slip-pery  road  condition, providing a higher-level weather information of snow quality for skiers participating in the winter sports, and estimating more accurate snowfall amount, location, and duration with the fallspeed of solid precipitation.

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