Fractal geometry of aggregate snowflakes revealed by triple wavelength radar measurements

Stein, T. H. M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9215-5397, Westbrook, C. D. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2889-8815 and Nicol, J. (2015) Fractal geometry of aggregate snowflakes revealed by triple wavelength radar measurements. Geophysical Research Letters, 42 (1). pp. 176-183. ISSN 0094-8276 doi: 10.1002/2014GL062170

Abstract/Summary

Radar reflectivity measurements from three different wavelengths are used to retrieve information about the shape of aggregate snowflakes in deep stratiform ice clouds. Dual-wavelength ratios are calculated for different shape models and compared to observations at 3, 35 and 94 GHz. It is demonstrated that many scattering models, including spherical and spheroidal models, do not adequately describe the aggregate snowflakes that are observed. The observations are consistent with fractal aggregate geometries generated by a physically-based aggregation model. It is demonstrated that the fractal dimension of large aggregates can be inferred directly from the radar data. Fractal dimensions close to 2 are retrieved, consistent with previous theoretical models and in-situ observations.

Additional Information	2014GL062170
Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/38672
Identification Number/DOI	10.1002/2014GL062170
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Science > School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences > Department of Meteorology
Uncontrolled Keywords	Cloud physics and chemistry, Snow, Remote sensing, snow, radar, scattering
Additional Information	2014GL062170
Publisher	American Geophysical Union
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