Database of single-scattering properties of falling snowflakes at microwave frequencies

Cross sections

Single ice crystals:

• Hexagonal columns: S C X Ka W G
• Hexagonal plates: S C X Ka W G
• Needles: S C X Ka W G
• Ordinary dendrites: S C X Ka W G
• Six-bullet rosettes: S C X Ka W G

Aggregates:

• Needles: S C X Ku Ka W G
• Ordinary dendrites: S C X Ku Ka W G
• Fern-like dendrites: S C X Ku Ka W G
• Six-bullet rosettes: S C X Ku Ka W G

Graupels: S C X Ku Ka W

Phase functions

Single ice crystals:

• Hexagonal columns: S C X Ka W G
• Hexagonal plates: S C X Ka W G
• Needles: S C X Ka W G
• Ordinary dendrites: S C X Ka W G
• Six-bullet rosettes: S C X Ka W G

Aggregates:

• Needles: S C X Ku Ka W G
• Ordinary dendrites: S C X Ku Ka W G
• Fern-like dendrites: S C X Ku Ka W G
• Six-bullet rosettes: S C X Ku Ka W G

Graupels: S C X Ku Ka W

Physical properties

Single ice crystals:

• Hexagonal columns
• Hexagonal plates
• Needles
• Ordinary dendrites
• Six-bullet rosettes

Aggregates:

• Needles
• Ordinary dendrites
• Fern-like dendrites
• Six-bullet rosettes

Graupels

Shapes

• hexagonal columns
• hexagonal plates
• needles
• six-bullet rosettes
• ordinary dendrites
• fern-like dendrites
• aggregates of needles
• aggregates of six-bullet rosettes
• aggregates of ordinary dendrites
• aggregates of fern-like dendrites
• graupel

These are the computations used in Tyynelä et al. (2013) and Battaglia et al. (2014). The manual for these computations is here. The files are in netCDF format.

Cross sections

• Hexagonal columns: 3 14 36 60 90 120 150 180 220 GHz
• Hexagonal plates (thin): 3 14 36 60 90 120 150 180 220 GHz
• Hexagonal plates (thick): 3 14 36 60 90 120 150 180 220 GHz
• Stellar dendrites: 3 14 36 60 90 120 150 180 220 GHz
• Six-bullet rosettes: 3 14 36 60 90 120 150 180 220 GHz

Phase functions

• Hexagonal columns: 3 14 36 60 90 120 150 180 220 GHz
• Hexagonal plates (thin): 3 14 36 60 90 120 150 180 220 GHz
• Hexagonal plates (thick): 3 14 36 60 90 120 150 180 220 GHz
• Stellar dendrites: 3 14 36 60 90 120 150 180 220 GHz
• Six-bullet rosettes: 3 14 36 60 90 120 150 180 220 GHz

Physical properties

• Hexagonal columns
• Hexagonal plates (thin)
• Hexagonal plates (thick)
• Stellar dendrites
• Six-bullet rosettes

These are the computations used in Tyynelä et al. (2011). A short description of the computations is here.

• Aggregates of fern-like dendrites: S C Ku Ka W
• Fractal particles (fd=1.88): S C Ku Ka W

References

1. Tyynelä J., Leinonen J., Moisseev D., and Nousiainen T. (2011). Radar backscattering from snowflakes: comparison of fractal, aggregate, and soft-spheroid models. J. Atmos. Oceanic Technol. 28, 1365-1372.
2. Tyynelä J., Leinonen J., Westbrook C. D., Moisseev D., and Nousiainen T. (2013). Applicability of the Rayleigh-Gans approximation for scattering by snowflakes at microwave frequencies in vertical incidence. J. Geophys. Res. Atmos. 118, 1826-1839.
3. Battaglia A., Westbrook C. D., Kneifel S., Kollias P., Humpage N., Löhnert U., Tyynelä J., and Petty G. W. (2014). G-band atmotspheric radars: new frontiers in cloud physics. Atmos. Meas. Tech. 7, 1527-1546.
4. Tyynelä J. and V. Chandrasekar (2014). Characterizing falling snow using multi-frequency dual-polarization measurements. J. Geophys. Res. Atmos. 119, 8268-8283.