RIming is an important microphysical process converting cloud water into precipitation water. The main research objectives here are (1) to better characterise the occurrence and intensity of riming from both a dynamical and a microphysical perspective, and (2) to understand how synoptic and mesoscale meteorological conditions constrain the occurrence of riming in mountainous and Antarctic snowfall.This work is based on measurements from various instruments (e.g. scanning X-band polarimetric radar, W-band Doppler profiler, operational MeteoSwiss radars, MRR, MASC) collected in various campaigns in the Swiss Alps and in Antarctica.
MASC (left) and W-band Doppler cloud profiler (right) in Verbier, Jan. 2017 (credit: H. Sanctuary, EPFL).
Collaborators involved: J. Gehring