Volumetric Imaging of Natural Snowfall Formations in the Field

• ETH Zurich
• Group Coletti

The interaction between natural snowfalls and atmospheric wind conditions can lead to complex snow clustering dynamics mediated by turbulence. For example, the formations of columnar structures and kinematic waves such as those present in particle-laden flows. How do such complex systems composed of millions of snowflakes lead to structure in the presence of a large variety of atmospheric turbulence conditions? Which kind of structures form depending on the snow mass loading, the type of frozen hydrometeor, and the atmospheric turbulence intensity levels? Building on a previous project that performed planar imaging, this project will focus on performing volumetric field imaging. Measurements will be performed at a professional field site in Davos where a holography setup will collocate snowflake characterization. To process the imaging data the student will join forces at the DLR in Göttingen and track snowflakes using state-of-the-art ‘Shake-the-Box’ Lagrangian particle tracking methodology.

• Aerospace Engineering, Earth Sciences, Environmental Engineering, Mathematical Sciences, Mechanical Engineering, Physics
• ETH Zurich (ETHZ), Master Thesis