Evaluation of the CloudSat surface snowfall product over Antarctica using ground-based precipitation radars
In situ observations of snowfall over the Antarctic Ice Sheet are scarce. Currently, continent-wide assessments of snowfall are limited to information from the Cloud Profiling Radar on board the CloudSat satellite, which has not been evaluated up to now. In this study, snowfall derived from CloudSat...
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fttudelft:oai:tudelft.nl:uuid:2dad84ad-069a-46cc-ad23-0afcd613e10b 2024-04-28T07:57:46+00:00 Evaluation of the CloudSat surface snowfall product over Antarctica using ground-based precipitation radars Souverijns, Niels (author) Gossart, Alexandra (author) Lhermitte, S.L.M. (author) Gorodetskaya, Irina V. (author) Grazioli, Jacopo (author) Berne, Alexis (author) Duran-Alarcon, Claudio (author) Boudevillain, Brice (author) 2018 http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:2dad84ad-069a-46cc-ad23-0afcd613e10b https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-3775-2018 en eng http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85057741258&partnerID=8YFLogxK The Cryosphere--1994-0416--cd846f1b-e0c2-4859-8c64-145cdcd59512 http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:2dad84ad-069a-46cc-ad23-0afcd613e10b https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-3775-2018 © 2018 Niels Souverijns, Alexandra Gossart, S.L.M. Lhermitte, Irina V. Gorodetskaya, Jacopo Grazioli, Alexis Berne, Claudio Duran-Alarcon, Brice Boudevillain, More Authors journal article 2018 fttudelft https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-3775-2018 2024-04-09T23:43:17Z In situ observations of snowfall over the Antarctic Ice Sheet are scarce. Currently, continent-wide assessments of snowfall are limited to information from the Cloud Profiling Radar on board the CloudSat satellite, which has not been evaluated up to now. In this study, snowfall derived from CloudSat is evaluated using three ground-based vertically profiling 24 GHz precipitation radars (Micro Rain Radars: MRRs). Firstly, using the MRR long-term measurement records, an assessment of the uncertainty caused by the low temporal sampling rate of CloudSat (one revisit per 2.1 to 4.5 days) is performed. The 10-90th-percentile temporal sampling uncertainty in the snowfall climatology varies between 30% and 40% depending on the latitudinal location and revisit time of CloudSat. Secondly, an evaluation of the snowfall climatology indicates that the CloudSat product, derived at a resolution of 1° latitude by 2° longitude, is able to accurately represent the snowfall climatology at the three MRR sites (biases<15 %), outperforming ERA-Interim. For coarser and finer resolutions, the performance drops as a result of higher omission errors by CloudSat. Moreover, the CloudSat product does not perform well in simulating individual snowfall events. Since the difference between the MRRs and the CloudSat climatology are limited and the temporal uncertainty is lower than current Climate Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) snowfall variability, our results imply that the CloudSat product is valuable for climate model evaluation purposes. Mathematical Geodesy and Positioning Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet The Cryosphere Delft University of Technology: Institutional Repository The Cryosphere 12 12 3775 3789 |
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Open Polar |
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Delft University of Technology: Institutional Repository |
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fttudelft |
language |
English |
description |
In situ observations of snowfall over the Antarctic Ice Sheet are scarce. Currently, continent-wide assessments of snowfall are limited to information from the Cloud Profiling Radar on board the CloudSat satellite, which has not been evaluated up to now. In this study, snowfall derived from CloudSat is evaluated using three ground-based vertically profiling 24 GHz precipitation radars (Micro Rain Radars: MRRs). Firstly, using the MRR long-term measurement records, an assessment of the uncertainty caused by the low temporal sampling rate of CloudSat (one revisit per 2.1 to 4.5 days) is performed. The 10-90th-percentile temporal sampling uncertainty in the snowfall climatology varies between 30% and 40% depending on the latitudinal location and revisit time of CloudSat. Secondly, an evaluation of the snowfall climatology indicates that the CloudSat product, derived at a resolution of 1° latitude by 2° longitude, is able to accurately represent the snowfall climatology at the three MRR sites (biases<15 %), outperforming ERA-Interim. For coarser and finer resolutions, the performance drops as a result of higher omission errors by CloudSat. Moreover, the CloudSat product does not perform well in simulating individual snowfall events. Since the difference between the MRRs and the CloudSat climatology are limited and the temporal uncertainty is lower than current Climate Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) snowfall variability, our results imply that the CloudSat product is valuable for climate model evaluation purposes. Mathematical Geodesy and Positioning |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Souverijns, Niels (author) Gossart, Alexandra (author) Lhermitte, S.L.M. (author) Gorodetskaya, Irina V. (author) Grazioli, Jacopo (author) Berne, Alexis (author) Duran-Alarcon, Claudio (author) Boudevillain, Brice (author) |
spellingShingle |
Souverijns, Niels (author) Gossart, Alexandra (author) Lhermitte, S.L.M. (author) Gorodetskaya, Irina V. (author) Grazioli, Jacopo (author) Berne, Alexis (author) Duran-Alarcon, Claudio (author) Boudevillain, Brice (author) Evaluation of the CloudSat surface snowfall product over Antarctica using ground-based precipitation radars |
author_facet |
Souverijns, Niels (author) Gossart, Alexandra (author) Lhermitte, S.L.M. (author) Gorodetskaya, Irina V. (author) Grazioli, Jacopo (author) Berne, Alexis (author) Duran-Alarcon, Claudio (author) Boudevillain, Brice (author) |
author_sort |
Souverijns, Niels (author) |
title |
Evaluation of the CloudSat surface snowfall product over Antarctica using ground-based precipitation radars |
title_short |
Evaluation of the CloudSat surface snowfall product over Antarctica using ground-based precipitation radars |
title_full |
Evaluation of the CloudSat surface snowfall product over Antarctica using ground-based precipitation radars |
title_fullStr |
Evaluation of the CloudSat surface snowfall product over Antarctica using ground-based precipitation radars |
title_full_unstemmed |
Evaluation of the CloudSat surface snowfall product over Antarctica using ground-based precipitation radars |
title_sort |
evaluation of the cloudsat surface snowfall product over antarctica using ground-based precipitation radars |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:2dad84ad-069a-46cc-ad23-0afcd613e10b https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-3775-2018 |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet The Cryosphere |
op_relation |
http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85057741258&partnerID=8YFLogxK The Cryosphere--1994-0416--cd846f1b-e0c2-4859-8c64-145cdcd59512 http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:2dad84ad-069a-46cc-ad23-0afcd613e10b https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-3775-2018 |
op_rights |
© 2018 Niels Souverijns, Alexandra Gossart, S.L.M. Lhermitte, Irina V. Gorodetskaya, Jacopo Grazioli, Alexis Berne, Claudio Duran-Alarcon, Brice Boudevillain, More Authors |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-3775-2018 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
12 |
container_issue |
12 |
container_start_page |
3775 |
op_container_end_page |
3789 |
_version_ |
1797590157684113408 |