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research article

Observation of the Orientation of Snow Hydrometeors at Sheltered and Unsheltered Sites

Grazioli, J.  
•
Condolf, M.
•
Roulet, Y. A.
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February 28, 2025
Geophysical Research Letters

Knowledge about orientation of falling snow is still poorly documented with field measurements despite its importance, for example, in the interpretation of remote sensing data. This study investigates the orientation of snow hydrometeors using data from a Multi-Angle Snowflake Camera. We explore the impact of different observational setups (sheltered vs. unsheltered), wind speed, hydrometeor type, and axis ratio on the orientation distributions. Numerical simulations are used to select the best orientation estimator and to understand the reason behind contrasting results reported in past literature. We find that previously reported non-zero median orientations are likely artifacts due to averaging absolute values of orientations from the three individual cameras. Observed orientations generally follow a symmetrical distribution around 0 (Formula presented.), with broader distributions observed at unsheltered sites and/or high wind conditions. Observed distributions may vary significantly from those assumed in previous studies, highlighting the need for further research on hydrometeor orientations under varying environmental conditions.

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Type
research article
DOI
10.1029/2024GL113042
Scopus ID

2-s2.0-85218974482

Author(s)
Grazioli, J.  

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Condolf, M.

ETH Zürich

Roulet, Y. A.

Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology MeteoSwiss

Coletti, F.

ETH Zürich

Berne, A.  

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Date Issued

2025-02-28

Published in
Geophysical Research Letters
Volume

52

Issue

4

Article Number

e2024GL113042

Subjects

cryosphere

•

ice-phase hydrometeors

•

microphysics

•

precipitation

•

snowfall

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
LTE  
FunderFunding(s)Grant NumberGrant URL

Swiss National Science Foundation

200020_175700/1

Available on Infoscience
March 12, 2025
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/247733
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