Thunderstorm-Precipitation Growth and Electrical-Charge Generation *

1953 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 117-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. E. Reynolds
Keyword(s):  
Charge Separation ◽  
Cloud Droplet ◽  
Electrical Charge ◽  
Generation Mechanism ◽  
Ice Crystals ◽  
Droplet Growth ◽  
Growth Theory ◽  
Development Pattern ◽  
Growth Data ◽  
Charge Generation

It is shown, by use of Langmuir's precipitation growth data and Ludlam's hailstone heat economy data, that the glaze-ice thunderstorm charge generation mechanism suggested by E. J. Workman and the author is consistent with the thunderstorm cell development pattern observed by Workman and the author. The environment of charge separation is found theoretically. It also is shown that the initiation of precipitation in Midwestern thunderstorms without the involvement of ice crystals is consistent with Langmuir's cloud-droplet growth theory.

scholarly journals Estimating Surface Attachment Kinetic and Growth Transition Influences on Vapor-Grown Ice Crystals

2020 ◽  
Vol 77 (7) ◽  
pp. 2393-2410
Author(s):  
Gwenore F. Pokrifka ◽  
Alfred M. Moyle ◽  
Lavender Elle Hanson ◽  
Jerry Y. Harrington
Keyword(s):  
Diffusion Chamber ◽  
Ice Crystals ◽  
Growth Theory ◽  
Growth Data ◽  
Surface Attachment ◽  
Mass Growth ◽  
Vapor Growth ◽  
Deposition Coefficient ◽  
Direct Use ◽  
Large Decline

AbstractThere are few measurements of the vapor growth of small ice crystals at temperatures below −30°C. Presented here are mass-growth measurements of heterogeneously and homogeneously frozen ice particles grown within an electrodynamic levitation diffusion chamber at temperatures between −44° and −30°C and supersaturations si between 3% and 29%. These growth data are analyzed with two methods devised to estimate the deposition coefficient α without the direct use of si. Measurements of si are typically uncertain, which has called past estimates of α into question. We find that the deposition coefficient ranges from 0.002 to unity and is scattered with temperature, as shown in prior measurements. The data collectively also show a relationship between α and si, with α rising (falling) with increasing si for homogeneously (heterogeneously) frozen ice. Analysis of the normalized mass growth rates reveals that heterogeneously frozen crystals grow near the maximum rate at low si, but show increasingly inhibited (low α) growth at high si. Additionally, 7 of the 17 homogeneously frozen crystals cannot be modeled with faceted growth theory or constant α. These cases require the growth mode to transition from efficient to inefficient in time, leading to a large decline in α. Such transitions may be, in part, responsible for the inconsistency in prior measurements of α.

scholarly journals Broadening of Cloud Droplet Spectra through Eddy Hopping: Turbulent Entraining Parcel Simulations

2018 ◽  
Vol 75 (10) ◽  
pp. 3365-3379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gustavo C. Abade ◽  
Wojciech W. Grabowski ◽  
Hanna Pawlowska
Keyword(s):  
Droplet Size ◽  
Turbulent Mixing ◽  
Cloud Condensation Nuclei ◽  
Cloud Droplet ◽  
Cloud Microphysics ◽  
Droplet Growth ◽  
Size Spectrum ◽  
Entrainment Rate ◽  
The Mean ◽  
The Impact

This paper discusses the effects of cloud turbulence, turbulent entrainment, and entrained cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) activation on the evolution of the cloud droplet size spectrum. We simulate an ensemble of idealized turbulent cloud parcels that are subject to entrainment events modeled as a random process. Entrainment events, subsequent turbulent mixing inside the parcel, supersaturation fluctuations, and the resulting stochastic droplet activation and growth by condensation are simulated using a Monte Carlo scheme. Quantities characterizing the turbulence intensity, entrainment rate, CCN concentration, and the mean fraction of environmental air entrained in an event are all specified as independent external parameters. Cloud microphysics is described by applying Lagrangian particles, the so-called superdroplets. These are either unactivated CCN or cloud droplets that grow from activated CCN. The model accounts for the addition of environmental CCN into the cloud by entraining eddies at the cloud edge. Turbulent mixing of the entrained dry air with cloudy air is described using the classical linear relaxation to the mean model. We show that turbulence plays an important role in aiding entrained CCN to activate, and thus broadening the droplet size distribution. These findings are consistent with previous large-eddy simulations (LESs) that consider the impact of variable droplet growth histories on the droplet size spectra in small cumuli. The scheme developed in this work is ready to be used as a stochastic subgrid-scale scheme in LESs of natural clouds.

scholarly journals Creation of Hybrid Photoactive Inorganic/Organic Interface Assemblies of Cadmium Oxide mixtures (CdO2/CdO)/Poly-2,2-Bithiophene; Optical and Photoelectrochemical Investigations

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 71
Author(s):  
Kasem K. Kasem ◽  
Henry Worley ◽  
Ashley Lovins
Keyword(s):  
Charge Separation ◽  
Cadmium Oxide ◽  
Equilibrium Mixture ◽  
Organic Polymer ◽  
Aqueous Electrolytes ◽  
Charge Generation ◽  
Transfer Processes ◽  
Organic Interfaces ◽  
Band Alignments ◽  
Induced Charge

Nanoparticles of cadmium peroxide (CdO2) were immobilized in poly 2,2 bithiophene (PBTh) to build photoactive inorganic/organic interfaces (I/O/I). Studies indicated that the CdO2 initially immobilized in the organic polymer partially decomposed to a low band gap CdO. Therefore we refer to this mixture as CdO2/CdO. The CdO2/CdO/PBTh assemblies were subjected to optical and photoelectrochemical investigations in aqueous electrolytes containing acetate, nitrate, or phosphate. The equilibrium mixture of CdO2/CdO influenced the optical conductivity and dielectric contents of the assemblies. Furthermore, O2 played an important role in the charge separation and transfer processes. The effects of an applied magnetic field were investigated and reported. The results were explained on the basis of formation of hybrid sub-bands due to band alignments between the assembly components. The photo-induced charge generation of PBTh was improved by occlusion of CdO2 in the polymer as was evident by the greater photocurrent generated by CdO2/CdO/PBTh than that generated by PBTh.

scholarly journals Aerosol indirect effect from turbulence-induced broadening of cloud-droplet size distributions

2016 ◽  
Vol 113 (50) ◽  
pp. 14243-14248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kamal Kant Chandrakar ◽  
Will Cantrell ◽  
Kelken Chang ◽  
David Ciochetto ◽  
Dennis Niedermeier ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Size Distribution ◽  
Droplet Size ◽  
Cloud Droplet ◽  
Droplet Size Distribution ◽  
Aerosol Concentration ◽  
Droplet Radius ◽  
Droplet Growth ◽  
Moist Convection ◽  
Concentration Changes ◽  
Precipitation Formation

The influence of aerosol concentration on the cloud-droplet size distribution is investigated in a laboratory chamber that enables turbulent cloud formation through moist convection. The experiments allow steady-state microphysics to be achieved, with aerosol input balanced by cloud-droplet growth and fallout. As aerosol concentration is increased, the cloud-droplet mean diameter decreases, as expected, but the width of the size distribution also decreases sharply. The aerosol input allows for cloud generation in the limiting regimes of fast microphysics (τc<τt) for high aerosol concentration, and slow microphysics (τc>τt) for low aerosol concentration; here, τc is the phase-relaxation time and τt is the turbulence-correlation time. The increase in the width of the droplet size distribution for the low aerosol limit is consistent with larger variability of supersaturation due to the slow microphysical response. A stochastic differential equation for supersaturation predicts that the standard deviation of the squared droplet radius should increase linearly with a system time scale defined as τs−1=τc−1+τt−1, and the measurements are in excellent agreement with this finding. The result underscores the importance of droplet size dispersion for aerosol indirect effects: increasing aerosol concentration changes the albedo and suppresses precipitation formation not only through reduction of the mean droplet diameter but also by narrowing of the droplet size distribution due to reduced supersaturation fluctuations. Supersaturation fluctuations in the low aerosol/slow microphysics limit are likely of leading importance for precipitation formation.

scholarly journals Long-lived and disorder-free charge transfer states enable endothermic charge separation in efficient non-fullerene organic solar cells

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ture F. Hinrichsen ◽  
Christopher C. S. Chan ◽  
Chao Ma ◽  
David Paleček ◽  
Alexander Gillett ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cells ◽  
Charge Transfer ◽  
Organic Solar Cells ◽  
Charge Separation ◽  
Free Charge ◽  
Charge Generation ◽  
Time Resolved ◽  
Thermodynamic Conditions ◽  
Donor Acceptor ◽  
Interfacial Charge

Abstract Organic solar cells based on non-fullerene acceptors can show high charge generation yields despite near-zero donor–acceptor energy offsets to drive charge separation and overcome the mutual Coulomb attraction between electron and hole. Here, we use time-resolved optical spectroscopy to show that free charges in these systems are generated by thermally activated dissociation of interfacial charge-transfer states that occurs over hundreds of picoseconds at room temperature, three orders of magnitude slower than comparable fullerene-based systems. Upon free electron–hole encounters at later times, both charge-transfer states and emissive excitons are regenerated, thus setting up an equilibrium between excitons, charge-transfer states and free charges. Our results suggest that the formation of long-lived and disorder-free charge-transfer states in these systems enables them to operate closely to quasi-thermodynamic conditions with no requirement for energy offsets to drive interfacial charge separation and achieve suppressed non-radiative recombination.

Broadening of the Cloud Droplet Size Distribution due to Thermal Radiative Cooling: Turbulent Parcel Simulations

2020 ◽  
Vol 77 (6) ◽  
pp. 1993-2010
Author(s):  
Mares Barekzai ◽  
Bernhard Mayer
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Radiation ◽  
Droplet Size ◽  
Cloud Droplet ◽  
Droplet Size Distribution ◽  
Growth Efficiency ◽  
Droplet Growth ◽  
Radiative Cooling ◽  
Radiative Effect ◽  
Diffusional Growth ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Despite impressive advances in rain forecasts over the past decades, our understanding of rain formation on a microphysical scale is still poor. Droplet growth initially occurs through diffusion and, for sufficiently large radii, through the collision of droplets. However, there is no consensus on the mechanism to bridge the condensation coalescence bottleneck. We extend the analysis of prior methods by including radiatively enhanced diffusional growth (RAD) to a Markovian turbulence parameterization. This addition increases the diffusional growth efficiency by allowing for emission and absorption of thermal radiation. Specifically, we quantify an upper estimate for the radiative effect by focusing on droplets close to the cloud boundary. The strength of this simple model is that it determines growth-rate dependencies on a number of parameters, like updraft speed and the radiative effect, in a deterministic way. Realistic calculations with a cloud-resolving model are sensitive to parameter changes, which may cause completely different cloud realizations and thus it requires considerable computational power to obtain statistically significant results. The simulations suggest that the addition of radiative cooling can lead to a doubling of the droplet size standard deviation. However, the magnitude of the increase depends strongly on the broadening established by turbulence, due to an increase in the maximum droplet size, which accelerates the production of drizzle. Furthermore, the broadening caused by the combination of turbulence and thermal radiation is largest for small updrafts and the impact of radiation increases with time until it becomes dominant for slow synoptic updrafts.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document