Preprint Article Version 2 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Solid Precipitation and Visibility Measurements at the Centre for Atmospheric Research Experiments in Southern Ontario and Bratt’s Lake in Southern Saskatchewan

Version 1 : Received: 28 June 2023 / Approved: 29 June 2023 / Online: 30 June 2023 (11:40:13 CEST)
Version 2 : Received: 4 August 2023 / Approved: 7 August 2023 / Online: 8 August 2023 (08:43:11 CEST)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Boudala, F.S.; Milbrandt, J.A. Solid Precipitation and Visibility Measurements at the Centre for Atmospheric Research Experiments in Southern Ontario and Bratt’s Lake in Southern Saskatchewan. Remote Sens. 2023, 15, 4079. Boudala, F.S.; Milbrandt, J.A. Solid Precipitation and Visibility Measurements at the Centre for Atmospheric Research Experiments in Southern Ontario and Bratt’s Lake in Southern Saskatchewan. Remote Sens. 2023, 15, 4079.

Abstract

Accurate measurement of solid precipitation (S) has a critical importance for proper understanding of the Earth’s hydrological cycle, validation of emerging technologies and weather prediction models, and developing parameterizations of severe weather elements such as visibility (Vis). However, measuring S is still a challenging problem mainly because of wind effects. The wind effects are normally mitigated by using a Double-Fence Automated Reference (DFAR) system to reduce the wind speed (Ug). To contribute towards addressing some of these issues we have analyzed data sets collected at a site located in Southern Ontario, Canada using several instruments. The instruments include two Geonor gauges, one placed inside a DFAR (SDFAR) and the other inside a double Alter shield (DASG), a Pluvio2 gauge inside a single Alter shield (SASP), a HotPlate, a PARSIVEL2 Disdrometer that measures S and fall velocity (V), and a FD12P senor that measures S and type and Vis. The results show that for the Ug observed in this study (Ug < 6 ms-1), both DASG and SASP have similar collection efficiency (CE) of near 70%. The transfer functions (TF) for DASG and SASP as a function of Ug and also Ug, and V have been derived. The TF for the DASG that includes both Ug and V showed better agreement with observation than just Ug alone. The S measured using all the other instruments were correlated well with SDFAR, but the PARSIVEL2 and FD12P overestimated and underestimated the snow amount respectively as compared the SDFAR. However, the HotPlate captured similar amount of S as the SDFAR. According to this study, the SDFAR showed good correlation with Vis.

Keywords

solid precipitation and type measurements; solid precipitation catch efficiency; snow gauges; non-traditional solid precipitation censors; visibility in snow; aviation

Subject

Environmental and Earth Sciences, Atmospheric Science and Meteorology

Comments (1)

Comment 1
Received: 8 August 2023
Commenter: Faisal Boudala
Commenter's Conflict of Interests: Author
Comment: The title chnaged and new datasets from Bratt's Lake are added,  three more plots are allso added. The article some how rearraged based on the suggestions of the reviewers.
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