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Macro Snowflake

Whether a snowflake is delicate and ornate, or dense and pellet-like heavily depends on how "rimed" it is. Riming happens when water vapor fills small cavities within the ice crystals, and then overflows, allowing water to pool into droplets.

 

Credit: NASA/JPL/Jussi Leinonen

 

More info: NASA has produced the first three-dimensional numerical model of melting snowflakes in the atmosphere. Developed by scientist Jussi Leinonen of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, the model provides a better understanding of how snow melts can help scientists recognize the signature in radar signals of heavier, wetter snow -- the kind that breaks power lines and tree limbs -- and could be a step toward improving predictions of this hazard.

 

www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2018/nasa-visualizes-the-dan...

 

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NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.

 

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Uploaded on March 29, 2018