Characteristics of Snow Particle Size Distribution in the PyeongChang Region of South Korea

Abstract

Snow particle size distribution (PSD) information is important in understanding the microphysics and quantitative precipitation estimation over complex terrain. Measurement and interpretation of the snow PSDs is a topic of active research. This study investigates snow PSDs during 3 year of observations from Parsivel2 disdrometers and precipitation imaging packages (PIP) at five different sites in the PyeongChang region of South Korea. Variabilities in the values of the density of snow (ρ), snowfall rate (S), and ice water content (IWC) are studied. To further understand the characteristics of snow PSD at different density and snowfall rate, the snow particle size distribution measurements are divided into six classes based on the density values of snowfall and five classes based on snowfall rates. The mean shape factors (Dm, log10Nw, and μ) of normalized gamma distribution are also derived based on different density and snowfall rate classes. The Dm decreases and log10Nw and μ increase as the density increases. The Dm and log10Nw increase and μ decreases with the increase of snowfall rate. The power-law relationship between ρ and Dm is obtained and the relationship between S and IWC is also derived.