Microwave Remote Sensing of Falling Snow

摘要

Snowfall is an important component of the Earth's precipitation and hydrological cycle. Remote measurements of frozen hydrometeor properties have been limited because coincident measurements of microphysical and electromagnetic properties of snowfall have rarely been available. Ground-based radars have been widely used to monitor snowfall intensity, but even those measurements are difficult to relate to water equivalent of snow because of the vast diversity of snow habits, density, and size distributions. Moreover, the spatial coverage of radar networks is limited over most regions other than the U.S.A., Europe, and Japan.