Fine-scale Structure of Snowstorms — Motivations for NASA IMPACTS
During the winters of 2020, 2022, and 2023, NASA is conducting a field investigation called “The Investigation of Microphysics and Precipitation for Atlantic Coast-Threatening Snowstorms” (IMPACTS). IMPACTS is flying a complementary suite of remote sensing and in-situ instruments for three 6-week deployments on the ER-2 and P-3 aircraft and will address specific objectives related to understanding the mechanisms of snowband formation, organization, and evolution. IMPACTS will also investigate how the microphysical characteristics and likely growth mechanisms of snow particles vary across snowbands. Part of the motivation for IMPACTS were recent studies using high resolution airborne W-Band radars conducted by my research group as part of the Profiling of Winter Storms (PLOWS) research campaign. In this talk, I will summarize these studies, and explain the conundrums we face in understanding these complex storm systems
