Melting of Snow Pellets in the Atmosphere

Abstract

   The air temperatures for the onset of melting and for the completion of melting of snow pellets below freezing level were obtained by an analysis of the routine observational data and were compared with those from theory. The theory, which allows for melt water to percolate into the porous core of a snow pellet, agreed well with the analysis. It was demonstrated both analytically and theoretically that the fall distance below freezing level for the onset of melting increased with decreasing relative humidity and that the fall distance for the completion of melting increased with decreasing relative humidity and with increasing snow pellet size and density. These results show that the melting process of snow pellets in the atmosphere is essentially the same as that of snowflakes revealed through the study of Matsuo and Sasyo (1981a, b, c) and Matsuo et al. (1981d).