The World Meteorological Organization Solid Precipitation InterComparison Experiment (WMO-SPICE) and its applications (AMT/ESSD/HESS/TC inter-journal SI)(AMT/ESSD/HESS/TC inter-journal SI)
The World Meteorological Organization Solid Precipitation InterComparison Experiment (WMO-SPICE) and its applications (AMT/ESSD/HESS/TC inter-journal SI)(AMT/ESSD/HESS/TC inter-journal SI)
Editor(s): M. E. Earle, S. Morin, R. M. Rasmussen, M. A. Wolff, and D. Yang Special issue jointly organized between Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, Earth System Science Data, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, and The Cryosphere
Solid precipitation is one of the more complex atmospheric variables to be observed and measured by automatic sensors and systems. Since the WMO Solid Precipitation Measurement Inter-comparison of 1989-1993 (WMO CIMO IOM Report No. 67, WMO/TD-No. 872, 1998), significant advancements have been made in developing automatic instruments for measuring solid precipitation and snow on the ground. New non-catchment type techniques are increasingly used operationally for measuring solid precipitation, e.g. light scattering, microwave backscatter, mass and heat transfer. In parallel, the traditional techniques, tipping bucket and weighing type gauges, have new features (heating, temperature compensation, software corrections), which further diversify the range of data obtain with such instruments. New and emerging applications (e.g., climate change, nowcasting, water supply budgets, avalanche forecast and warnings, satellite ground validation, etc.) require precipitation data of increased accuracy and increased temporal and spatial resolution. A large variety of automatic instruments are being used for measuring solid precipitation, worldwide, including within the same country. This variety exceeds by far the existing range of manual standard precipitation gauges (Goodison et al., 1998).

The Solid Precipitation Intercomparison Experiment (WMO SPICE) commenced in 2011, being endorsed at the Sixteenth Congress of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). SPICE is organized by the Commission for Instruments and Methods of Observation (CIMO) of WMO. Building on the results and recommendations of previous studies and intercomparisons, the mission of SPICE is to investigate and report the measurement and reporting of:

a) Precipitation amount, over various time periods (minutes, hours, days, season), as a function of the precipitation phase, with a focus on solid precipitation;

b) Snow on the ground (snow depth); as snow depth measurements are closely tied to snowfall measurements, the intercomparison will investigate the linkages between them.

The SPICE experiments are organized as simultaneous field tests in a range of climate conditions, over several winter seasons, in the Northern and Southern hemispheres, which have started in December 2012, and continuing until the end of the winter season 2015.

The Inter-Journal WMO SPICE Special Issue invites submissions directly reporting on results obtained within the WMO SPICE project and beyond, including studies relevant to WMO SPICE objectives but carried out independently, and studies focusing on application of WMO SPICE outcomes, such as cold region climate change, snow hydrology, remote sensing of snow cover and snowfall, and land surface modeling over the cold/high latitude regions.

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12 Apr 2018
Estimating the snow water equivalent on a glacierized high elevation site (Forni Glacier, Italy)
Antonella Senese, Maurizio Maugeri, Eraldo Meraldi, Gian Pietro Verza, Roberto Sergio Azzoni, Chiara Compostella, and Guglielmina Diolaiuti
The Cryosphere, 12, 1293–1306, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1293-2018,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1293-2018, 2018
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27 Feb 2018
Testing and development of transfer functions for weighing precipitation gauges in WMO-SPICE
John Kochendorfer, Rodica Nitu, Mareile Wolff, Eva Mekis, Roy Rasmussen, Bruce Baker, Michael E. Earle, Audrey Reverdin, Kai Wong, Craig D. Smith, Daqing Yang, Yves-Alain Roulet, Tilden Meyers, Samuel Buisan, Ketil Isaksen, Ragnar Brækkan, Scott Landolt, and Al Jachcik
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 1437–1452, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-1437-2018,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-1437-2018, 2018
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19 Oct 2017
Measuring precipitation with a geolysimeter
Craig D. Smith, Garth van der Kamp, Lauren Arnold, and Randy Schmidt
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 5263–5272, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-5263-2017,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-5263-2017, 2017
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14 Jul 2017
| Highlight paper
Analysis of single-Alter-shielded and unshielded measurements of mixed and solid precipitation from WMO-SPICE
John Kochendorfer, Rodica Nitu, Mareile Wolff, Eva Mekis, Roy Rasmussen, Bruce Baker, Michael E. Earle, Audrey Reverdin, Kai Wong, Craig D. Smith, Daqing Yang, Yves-Alain Roulet, Samuel Buisan, Timo Laine, Gyuwon Lee, Jose Luis C. Aceituno, Javier Alastrué, Ketil Isaksen, Tilden Meyers, Ragnar Brækkan, Scott Landolt, Al Jachcik, and Antti Poikonen
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 3525–3542, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-3525-2017,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-3525-2017, 2017
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12 Apr 2017
The quantification and correction of wind-induced precipitation measurement errors
John Kochendorfer, Roy Rasmussen, Mareile Wolff, Bruce Baker, Mark E. Hall, Tilden Meyers, Scott Landolt, Al Jachcik, Ketil Isaksen, Ragnar Brækkan, and Ronald Leeper
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 1973–1989, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-1973-2017,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-1973-2017, 2017
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16 Mar 2017
Assessment of snowfall accumulation underestimation by tipping bucket gauges in the Spanish operational network
Samuel T. Buisán, Michael E. Earle, José Luís Collado, John Kochendorfer, Javier Alastrué, Mareile Wolff, Craig D. Smith, and Juan I. López-Moreno
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 1079–1091, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-1079-2017,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-1079-2017, 2017
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16 Jan 2017
An assessment of two automated snow water equivalent instruments during the WMO Solid Precipitation Intercomparison Experiment
Craig D. Smith, Anna Kontu, Richard Laffin, and John W. Pomeroy
The Cryosphere, 11, 101–116, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-101-2017,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-101-2017, 2017
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10 Oct 2016
Bias corrections of precipitation measurements across experimental sites in different ecoclimatic regions of western Canada
Xicai Pan, Daqing Yang, Yanping Li, Alan Barr, Warren Helgason, Masaki Hayashi, Philip Marsh, John Pomeroy, and Richard J. Janowicz
The Cryosphere, 10, 2347–2360, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-2347-2016,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-2347-2016, 2016
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18 Jul 2016
Design of a scanning laser meter for monitoring the spatio-temporal evolution of snow depth and its application in the Alps and in Antarctica
Ghislain Picard, Laurent Arnaud, Jean-Michel Panel, and Samuel Morin
The Cryosphere, 10, 1495–1511, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1495-2016,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1495-2016, 2016
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21 Dec 2015
Inconsistency in precipitation measurements across the Alaska–Yukon border
L. Scaff, D. Yang, Y. Li, and E. Mekis
The Cryosphere, 9, 2417–2428, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-2417-2015,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-2417-2015, 2015
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28 Oct 2015
Precipitation measurement intercomparison in the Qilian Mountains, north-eastern Tibetan Plateau
R. Chen, J. Liu, E. Kang, Y. Yang, C. Han, Z. Liu, Y. Song, W. Qing, and P. Zhu
The Cryosphere, 9, 1995–2008, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1995-2015,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-1995-2015, 2015
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04 Jun 2015
Evaporation from weighing precipitation gauges: impacts on automated gauge measurements and quality assurance methods
R. D. Leeper and J. Kochendorfer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 2291–2300, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-2291-2015,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-2291-2015, 2015
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20 Feb 2015
Derivation of a new continuous adjustment function for correcting wind-induced loss of solid precipitation: results of a Norwegian field study
M. A. Wolff, K. Isaksen, A. Petersen-Øverleir, K. Ødemark, T. Reitan, and R. Brækkan
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 19, 951–967, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-951-2015,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-951-2015, 2015
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18 May 2015
Robust, spatially scanning, open-path TDLAS hygrometer using retro-reflective foils for fast tomographic 2-D water vapor concentration field measurements
A. Seidel, S. Wagner, A. Dreizler, and V. Ebert
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 2061–2068, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-2061-2015,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-2061-2015, 2015
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