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<br />di recti.on and ai r temperature were a1 so obtai ned for compari son. <br />The corre lati on coeffi c i ents showed vr~ry good agreement among all <br />the sensors. However, regression eqwitions indicated significant <br />differences between sensors with the "'truell snowfall assumed to be <br />the average snow board measurement. <br /> <br />The snow pi 11 owreadi ngs averaged 5 pl~rcent 1 ess than measured by <br />the snow boards. The Sl10W pillow also appeared to 1I1ag" the snow <br />boards when compared on a daily basis during a storm lasting several <br />days. The heated tipping bucket also caught considerably less <br />snowfall than the snow boards. Three possible reasons were given: <br />(1) wind errors common to all gages above ground level, (2) evapor'a- <br />tion and sublimation losses due to heating and melting of snow, and <br />(3) losses due to snowflakes being deflected by the warm air rising <br />above the gage orifice. <br /> <br />Excellent agreement was found between the snow boards and the <br />shielded weighing bucket gage fitted ~,ith a 287-mm (11-5/16-in) <br />diameter orifice [double the orifice Cilrea of a standard 200-mm <br />(8-in) gage] as shown in figure 3. Although the orifice size and <br />shape were not hi gh1y important in ter'ms of absolute measurement, <br />the larger orifice did increase the re!solution of precipitation <br />measurements and prevented gage capping. A network of 28 to 33 <br />large-orifice, shielded weighing bucket precipitation gages was <br />operated on and downwi nd of the Sri dge!r Range duri ng the 1969 <br />through 1972 field programs. The gage's worked reliably and during <br />the course of the program, about 96 percent of all possible <br />precipitation data were obtained. <br /> <br />A 3-cm weather radar was also used on the Bridger Range Program for <br />several purposes, one of which was to obtain an estimate of precipita- <br />tion. The info'rmation necessary for the measurement of snowfall by <br />radar are the measurement of range and returned power, a computed <br />reflectivity factor, and a relationship linking reflectiVity to rate <br /> <br />of snowfall. The calculated regression equation was Z = 2490 S1.44 <br />in which Z is the reflectivity factor and S is the precipitation <br />rate. Several studies were conducted to relate snowfall to the <br />storm environment. They indicated that radar-estimated snowfall <br />amounts were reasonable, but the natural variability of snowfall in <br />time and space is considerable even in simple orographic storms. <br />The attempts to directly detect ground-based seeding effects were <br />not successful. However, a conclusion of the Montana State University <br />report was that the added capabil i ty of a di gi tal data logger mi ght <br />increase the opportunity for success. <br /> <br />3 <br />