Snow

On a global scale, we evaluate the ability of observations, reanalyses, and climate models to characterize snowfall in a variety of situations. One particular challenge is estimating snowfall in complex topography, a factor that is difficult to resolve in both models and observations. We are investigating this challenging problem under a seed grant from the University of Wisconsin Center for Climatic Research.

Radar is one of the primary tools for observing precipitation, including snowfall, but only a small fraction of the Earth’s surface is observed by ground-based weather radars. In recent years, satellite-borne radars and passive microwave radiometers have become important tools for producing near-global observations of snowfall and we are actively investigating methods for interpreting these observations.