Leveraging meteorological radars to investigate the influence of atmospheric dynamics on snowfall microphysics ...

• Main Author: Gehring, Josué Etienne
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Lausanne, EPFL 2021
• Subjects: meteorology; snowfall microphysics; atmospheric dynamics; polarimetric radar; field campaigns; aggregation; riming; Antarctica; South Korea; Antarc*
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5075/epfl-thesis-8588; https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/180728

Precipitation is the result of a chain of meteorological processes ranging from the large- to the micro-scale. While the transport of moisture and lifting mechanisms leading to cloud formation are mostly governed by dynamical processes, the formation and growth of hydrometeors are ultimately determined by microphysical processes. A proper understanding of the complex interactions between atmospheric dynamics and microphysics is of paramount importance to accurately forecast precipitation. In particular, snowfall microphysics is greatly influenced by dynamical processes, such as turbulence and updraughts. Yet, the impact of atmospheric dynamics on snowfall microphysics remains poorly understood. In this thesis, meteorological radars and atmospheric models are combined to investigate how dynamical processes can influence snowfall microphysics. We exploit the synergies between measurements collected with an X-band polarimetric radar (named MXPol), a W-band Doppler radar, and a multi-angle snowflake camera ...