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TERRAIN WITH SUBSTANTIAL SYSTEMATIC CHANGES IN ELEVATION MAY INTERACT WITH MOIST ATMOSPHERIC FLOWS AND GIVE RISE TO QUITE COMPLEX VARIATIONS IN THE SPATIAL STRUCTURE INTENSITY AND DURATION OF PRECIPITATION. THESE TERRAIN STRUCTURES INCLUDE MOUNTAIN RANGES AS WELL AS MORE MODERATELY VARYING TOPOGRAPHY SUCH AS UPSLOPING GROUND ADJACENT TO THE COASTS OF WATER BODIES WHICH MAY ACT TO ENHANCE LAKE EFFECT SNOW. THE POTENTIAL IMPACTS OF THESE TERRAIN FEATURES CAN BE EXTREME: FOSTERING INTENSE STATIONARY PRECIPITATION SYSTES THAT MAY PRODUCE SEVERE HIGHLY LOCALIZED PRECIPITATION; PRODUCING ENHANCED HEAVY DEPOSITION OF SNOW ON MOUNTAIN SNOWFIELDS; AND FORMING PERSISTENT SNOWFALL SHADOWS IN THE LEE OF MOUNTAIN RANGES. UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE OF THESE INTERACTIONS IS IMPORTANT FOR UNDERSTANDING THE POTENTIAL IMPACT OF CHANGING CLIMATE FOR ASSESSING RISKS TO WATER RESOURCES AND FOR PREDICTING THE BEHAVIOR AND CONSEQUENCES OF METEOROLOGICAL EVENTS. AT PRESENT INVESTIGATIONS HAVE TAKEN BOTH MODEL-BASED AND OBSERVATIONAL APPROACHES BUT MODEL STUDIES HAVE OFTEN EMPLOYED HIGHLY IDEALIZED TREATMENTS AND OBSERVATIONAL STUDIES HAVE BEEN IN THE FORM OF MORE LOCALIZED HIGHLY-FOCUSED FIELD EXPERIMENTS. AS A RESULT MORE GLOBAL ASSESSMENTS OF TERRAIN INFLUENCE ON SNOWFALL HAVE BEEN LACKING. THE ADVENT OF SATELLITEBORNE PRECIPITATION RADARS PROVIDES A MEANS BY WHICH THIS SHORTCOMING MAY BE ADDRESSED. THE PRIMARY OBJECTIVES OF THIS RESEARCH ARE TO APPLY THESE RECENT SPACE-BASED OBSERVATIONS TO DEVELOP A MORE COMPREHENSIVE GLOBAL PICTURE OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF TERRAIN-INFLUENCED SNOWFALL AND TO UNDERSTAND THE PREDICTABILITY OF THAT SNOWFALL GIVEN THE CHARACTERISTICS OF TERRAIN AND ATMOSPHERIC FLOW. GLOBAL PRECIPITATION MEASUREMENT (GPM) DATA PRODUCTS ARE USED ALONG WITH REANALYSIS PRODUCTS TO QUANTIFY FACTORS RELATED TO THE TERRAIN ATMOSPHERIC FLOW AND SNOWFALL PROCESSES THAT DETERMINE THE RESULTING DISTRIBUTIONS AND INTENSITIES OF SNOWFALL. FORM THE RESULTING DATASET WE EXAMINE THE STATISTICAL RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE FACTORS CONSTRUCT COMPOSITE REPRESENTATIONS OF DISTINCT OROGRAPHIC SNOWFALL BEHAVIORS AND INVESTIGATE THE PROCESSES ASSOCIATED WITH THE DISTINCT BEHAVIORS.

$355,538FY2020National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA

University Of Wisconsin System, Madison WI

Investigators

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TERRAIN WITH SUBSTANTIAL SYSTEMATIC CHANGES IN ELEVATION MAY INTERACT WITH MOIST ATMOSPHERIC FLOWS AND GIVE RISE TO QUITE COMPLEX VARIATIONS IN THE SPATIAL STRUCTURE INTENSITY AND DURATION OF PRECIPITATION. THESE TERRAIN STRUCTURES INCLUDE MOUNTAIN RANGES AS WELL AS MORE MODERATELY VARYING TOPOGRAPHY SUCH AS UPSLOPING GROUND ADJACENT TO THE COASTS OF WATER BODIES WHICH MAY ACT TO ENHANCE LAKE EFFECT SNOW. THE POTENTIAL IMPACTS OF THESE TERRAIN FEATURES CAN BE EXTREME: FOSTERING INTENSE STATIONARY PRECIPITATION SYSTES THAT MAY PRODUCE SEVERE HIGHLY LOCALIZED PRECIPITATION; PRODUCING ENHANCED HEAVY DEPOSITION OF SNOW ON MOUNTAIN SNOWFIELDS; AND FORMING PERSISTENT SNOWFALL SHADOWS IN THE LEE OF MOUNTAIN RANGES. UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE OF THESE INTERACTIONS IS IMPORTANT FOR UNDERSTANDING THE POTENTIAL IMPACT OF CHANGING CLIMATE FOR ASSESSING RISKS TO WATER RESOURCES AND FOR PREDICTING THE BEHAVIOR AND CONSEQUENCES OF METEOROLOGICAL EVENTS. AT PRESENT INVESTIGATIONS HAVE TAKEN BOTH MODEL-BASED AND OBSERVATIONAL APPROACHES BUT MODEL STUDIES HAVE OFTEN EMPLOYED HIGHLY IDEALIZED TREATMENTS AND OBSERVATIONAL STUDIES HAVE BEEN IN THE FORM OF MORE LOCALIZED HIGHLY-FOCUSED FIELD EXPERIMENTS. AS A RESULT MORE GLOBAL ASSESSMENTS OF TERRAIN INFLUENCE ON SNOWFALL HAVE BEEN LACKING. THE ADVENT OF SATELLITEBORNE PRECIPITATION RADARS PROVIDES A MEANS BY WHICH THIS SHORTCOMING MAY BE ADDRESSED. THE PRIMARY OBJECTIVES OF THIS RESEARCH ARE TO APPLY THESE RECENT SPACE-BASED OBSERVATIONS TO DEVELOP A MORE COMPREHENSIVE GLOBAL PICTURE OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF TERRAIN-INFLUENCED SNOWFALL AND TO UNDERSTAND THE PREDICTABILITY OF THAT SNOWFALL GIVEN THE CHARACTERISTICS OF TERRAIN AND ATMOSPHERIC FLOW. GLOBAL PRECIPITATION MEASUREMENT (GPM) DATA PRODUCTS ARE USED ALONG WITH REANALYSIS PRODUCTS TO QUANTIFY FACTORS RELATED TO THE TERRAIN ATMOSPHERIC FLOW AND SNOWFALL PROCESSES THAT DETERMINE THE RESULTING DISTRIBUTIONS AND INTENSITIES OF SNOWFALL. FORM THE RESULTING DATASET WE EXAMINE THE STATISTICAL RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE FACTORS CONSTRUCT COMPOSITE REPRESENTATIONS OF DISTINCT OROGRAPHIC SNOWFALL BEHAVIORS AND INVESTIGATE THE PROCESSES ASSOCIATED WITH THE DISTINCT BEHAVIORS. · GrantIndex