Research
The focus of this research is to investigate winter storms that produce ice pellets through operational weather radar, crowdsourced precipitation reports, and microphysical modeling. Recent upgrades to the National Weather Service’s network of weather radars from conventional single-polarization to dual-polarization, or polarimetric, radars provide for information on the size, shape, and composition of atmospheric hydrometeors. This new information allows meteorologists to identify different precipitation types and investigate physical processes associated with precipitation dynamics and formation. A new signature in winter storm radar data only accessible with polarimetric radars indicates the “refreezing” of fully or partly melted hydrometeors during ice pellet precipitation events. There are two main goals of further investigating what is referred to as the polarimetric signature of refreezing.
The first goal of the research is to document, analyze, and interpret the signature of refreezing. Crowdsourced precipitation reports and automated surface precipitation reports provide verification of refreezing when ice pellets are observed at the surface. These data indicate the reliability of the signature. The evolution of the signature will allow meteorologists to identify precipitation type transitions among snow, ice pellets, and freezing rain, which plays a crucial role in mixed precipitation events. The environmental conditions surrounding the signature, including temperature and moisture content, are also important to understanding refreezing. This information, together with polarimetric radar data, provides the basis for developing a microphysical interpretation of the underlying causes of the signature.
The final goal of this research is to explicitly model the microphysics associated with refreezing to match polarimetric radar observations. This aspect of the research will seek to verify proposed explanations and drive future research. If the underlying microphysical properties associated with refreezing are known, they can be incorporated into operational models to improve precipitation type forecasts. If the proposed explanations cannot be modeled accurately to match radar observations, it will refute existing hypotheses. As an iterative process, microphysical modeling can lead to the development of alternative hypotheses to test and ultimately determine the exact cause for the polarimetric refreezing signature.
A tangential goal to marriage both the microphophysical modeling and observational studies is to assess current operational and research-based precipitation type classification algorithms. The current trend is to actively incorporate surface-based precipitation type reports and radar data with model-based output to develop accurate precipitation type classification algorithms that accurately identify wintertime precipitation types for atmospheric temperatures near 0 °C. These situations are particularly difficult to identify, as even small errors can result in drastically different and/or multiple precipitation types. As this is an active area of research, it is my hope that I will be able to continue this line of research as a full-time research scientist. Additionally, I hope to collaborate with professionals from other fields to share my research and apply my findings to multiple applications, such as aircraft icing and electrical/telephone wire ice loading. Such impacts can be catastrophic, and I enjoy the challenges associated with applying research to real-world problems. Because of my interest in collaborating with other professionals, I have additional interest in contracting with private industries or government facilities which may require specialized knowledge to complete short- or long-term projects. In pursuit of these professional goals, I currently am working towards my doctorate in meteorology.
The first goal of the research is to document, analyze, and interpret the signature of refreezing. Crowdsourced precipitation reports and automated surface precipitation reports provide verification of refreezing when ice pellets are observed at the surface. These data indicate the reliability of the signature. The evolution of the signature will allow meteorologists to identify precipitation type transitions among snow, ice pellets, and freezing rain, which plays a crucial role in mixed precipitation events. The environmental conditions surrounding the signature, including temperature and moisture content, are also important to understanding refreezing. This information, together with polarimetric radar data, provides the basis for developing a microphysical interpretation of the underlying causes of the signature.
The final goal of this research is to explicitly model the microphysics associated with refreezing to match polarimetric radar observations. This aspect of the research will seek to verify proposed explanations and drive future research. If the underlying microphysical properties associated with refreezing are known, they can be incorporated into operational models to improve precipitation type forecasts. If the proposed explanations cannot be modeled accurately to match radar observations, it will refute existing hypotheses. As an iterative process, microphysical modeling can lead to the development of alternative hypotheses to test and ultimately determine the exact cause for the polarimetric refreezing signature.
A tangential goal to marriage both the microphophysical modeling and observational studies is to assess current operational and research-based precipitation type classification algorithms. The current trend is to actively incorporate surface-based precipitation type reports and radar data with model-based output to develop accurate precipitation type classification algorithms that accurately identify wintertime precipitation types for atmospheric temperatures near 0 °C. These situations are particularly difficult to identify, as even small errors can result in drastically different and/or multiple precipitation types. As this is an active area of research, it is my hope that I will be able to continue this line of research as a full-time research scientist. Additionally, I hope to collaborate with professionals from other fields to share my research and apply my findings to multiple applications, such as aircraft icing and electrical/telephone wire ice loading. Such impacts can be catastrophic, and I enjoy the challenges associated with applying research to real-world problems. Because of my interest in collaborating with other professionals, I have additional interest in contracting with private industries or government facilities which may require specialized knowledge to complete short- or long-term projects. In pursuit of these professional goals, I currently am working towards my doctorate in meteorology.