Dependence of the ice water content and snowfall rate on temperature, globally: Comparison of in situ observations, satellite active remote sensing retrievals, and global climate model simulations

Although the 2CICE retrieval is for IWC, a method to use the IWC to get snowfall rates S is developed. The GPM retrievals are for snowfall rate only. Model results are derived using the Community Atmosphere Model (CAM5) and the Met Office Unified Model [Global Atmosphere 7 (GA7)].

The retrievals and model results are related to the in situ observations using temperature and are partitioned by geographical region. Specific variables compared between the in situ observations, models, and retrievals are the IWCand S. Satellite-retrieved IWCs are reasonably close in value to the in situ observations, whereas the models' values are relatively low by comparison. Differences between the in situ IWCs and those from the other methods are compounded when S is considered, leading to model snowfall rates that are considerably lower than those derived from the in situ data.

Anomalous trends with temperature are noted in some instances.