Articles | Volume 12, issue 9
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-4993-2019
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-4993-2019
Research article
 | 
17 Sep 2019
Research article |  | 17 Sep 2019

The importance of particle size distribution and internal structure for triple-frequency radar retrievals of the morphology of snow

Shannon L. Mason, Robin J. Hogan, Christopher D. Westbrook, Stefan Kneifel, Dmitri Moisseev, and Leonie von Terzi

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Interactive discussion

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Status: closed
AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment
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AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision
AR by Shannon Mason on behalf of the Authors (05 Aug 2019)  Author's response   Manuscript 
ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (06 Aug 2019) by Gianfranco Vulpiani
RR by Anonymous Referee #2 (19 Aug 2019)
ED: Publish subject to technical corrections (19 Aug 2019) by Gianfranco Vulpiani
AR by Shannon Mason on behalf of the Authors (20 Aug 2019)  Manuscript 
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Short summary
The mass contents of snowflakes are critical to remotely sensed estimates of snowfall. The signatures of snow measured at three radar frequencies can distinguish fluffy, fractal snowflakes from dense and more homogeneous rimed snow. However, we show that the shape of the particle size spectrum also has a significant impact on triple-frequency radar signatures and must be accounted for when making triple-frequency radar estimates of snow that include variations in particle structure and density.