Analysis of cloud ice crystal habits from the Mt. Washington Icing Sensors Project (MWISP)

During the April 1999 Mt. Washington Icing Sensor Project (MWISP), the U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) gathered about 150 hours of ice crystal imagery from the summit of Mt. Washington, using ground-based Particle Measuring System 2D Gray probes. This paper reports on the results of an intensive analysis of the imagery data to be completed during the summer of 2000 that will concentrate on identifying and characterizing the ice crystal habits of mixed-phase clouds. Most of the study will be performed using automated imagery analysis techniques developed by Korolev, but a manual analysis of a subset of the record will be performed for comparison. The intent of the study is to summarize statistically the size, type, and concentration of the observed ice crystals and develop the time series behavior. Our characterization of the in situ microphysical cloud properties will allow more complete interpretation of the remotely sensed measurements that were part of the MWISP project.