Housseyni Sankaré
MSc student, Université du Québec à Montréal, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and ESCER centre (Supervisor: Julie Thériault)
Thesis topic: Impacts of snowflake types on the type of winter precipitation at the surface
Several types of precipitation can occur during winter storms when the temperature is near 0°C. To better understand the formation of these precipitation types, microphysics schemes including the processes related to the formation of freezing rain and ice pellets have been developed. This microphysics scheme considers only an average of snowflake type, called bulk-snow. The goal of my thesis is to assess the impact of the type of snowflake aloft on the precipitation type reaching the surface. To address this, a one dimensional cloud model coupled with the Thériault and Steward (2010) bulk microphysics scheme is used. Four snowflakes types (dendrite, bullet column and graupel) have been tested in various atmospheric conditions. Overall, this study contributes to a better understanding of winter precipitation type formation mechanisms, which can lead to catastrophic weather events.
