scholarly journals Airborne measurements in different clouds

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-28
Author(s):  
Andreea CALCAN ◽  
Sabina STEFAN ◽  
Sorin Nicolae VAJAIAC ◽  
Denisa MOACA
Keyword(s):  
Cloud Microphysics ◽  
Number Concentration ◽  
Mixed Phase ◽  
Ice Crystals ◽  
Effective Diameter ◽  
Airborne Measurements ◽  
Microphysical Properties ◽  
Mixed Phase Clouds ◽  
2D Images ◽  
High Influence

The aim of this paper is to analyze different aspects of microphysical properties of mixed phase clouds, considering also the processes that are contributing to their formation. ATMOSLAB airborne laboratory, equipped with CAPS – Cloud, Aerosol and Precipitation Spectrometer sensors system was exploited to perform three flight research missions focused on cloud microphysics. For this purpose, there was analyzed the variation of 4 major parameters with high influence the cold clouds lifecycle (temperature, pressure, number concentration, effective diameter and 2D images of droplets and ice crystals) and was highlighted the occurrence of nucleation, accretion and droplet coalescence in cirrus and cirrostratus clouds.

The microphysical characters of wintertime mixed-phase clouds in North China.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xuexu Wu ◽  
Minghuai Wang ◽  
Daniel Rosenfeld ◽  
Delong Zhao ◽  
Deping Ding
Keyword(s):  
Water Content ◽  
North China ◽  
Particle Number ◽  
Number Concentration ◽  
Mixed Phase ◽  
Ice Crystals ◽  
Particle Number Concentration ◽  
Aggregation Process ◽  
Higher Temperature ◽  
Mixed Phase Clouds

<p>We use aircraft observation data to investigate the microphysical characters of wintertime mixed-phase clouds in North China, including the cloud particle number concentration (N<sub>c</sub>), the liquid water content (LWC), the ice particle number concentration (N<sub>i</sub>), the ice water content (IWC), the particle spectrum distributions (PSDs) and the effective diameter (D<sub>e</sub>). For wintertime mixed-phase clouds, the average N<sub>c</sub> and N<sub>i</sub> were 170±154 cm<sup>-3</sup> and 26±39 L<sup>-1</sup>, respectively; the average LWC and IWC were 0.05±0.06 and 0.07±0.09g/m<sup>3</sup>, respectively; the D<sub>e</sub> for cloud particles was 10±4 μm. When compared to the results from other regions, including East Europe, North America, Southern Ocean and Tibetan Plateau, we found that the wintertime mixed-phase cloud in North China has larger N<sub>c</sub>, smaller LWC, IWC and D<sub>e</sub>, and narrower PSDs. The main reason might be the larger aerosol loading and smaller water content in the atmosphere in winter in North China. With increasing temperature, N<sub>c</sub> and LWC increased, but N<sub>i</sub> and D<sub>e</sub> decreased. The dominate physical processes in wintertime mixed-phase cloud were aggregation process and riming process. As the temperature increased, the peak concentration of ice PSD decreased, but N<sub>i</sub> increased and the ice PSD became wider, indicating more ice crystals and the ice crystals became larger at higher temperature. With temperature increasing, the ice habit also changed, and the amount of plates, irregular crystals and their aggregates increased. What’s more, with the existence of larger LWC at higher temperature, the ice crystals gradually tightened and their surface became more complicated as well. Therefore, both aggregation process and riming process were more active at higher temperature, but riming process changed much more. This work fills the gap in the observation of wintertime mixed-phase clouds in north China, and the results suggest that the wintertime mixed-phase clouds have some unique microphysical characters.</p><div> </div>

scholarly journals The Ice Selective Inlet: a novel technique for exclusive extraction of pristine ice crystals in mixed-phase clouds

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (8) ◽  
pp. 3087-3106 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Kupiszewski ◽  
E. Weingartner ◽  
P. Vochezer ◽  
M. Schnaiter ◽  
A. Bigi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Field Measurements ◽  
Droplet Evaporation ◽  
Cloud Microphysics ◽  
Mixed Phase ◽  
Ice Crystals ◽  
Saharan Dust ◽  
Liquid Droplets ◽  
Mixed Phase Clouds ◽  
Evaporation Unit

Abstract. Climate predictions are affected by high uncertainties partially due to an insufficient knowledge of aerosol–cloud interactions. One of the poorly understood processes is formation of mixed-phase clouds (MPCs) via heterogeneous ice nucleation. Field measurements of the atmospheric ice phase in MPCs are challenging due to the presence of much more numerous liquid droplets. The Ice Selective Inlet (ISI), presented in this paper, is a novel inlet designed to selectively sample pristine ice crystals in mixed-phase clouds and extract the ice residual particles contained within the crystals for physical and chemical characterization. Using a modular setup composed of a cyclone impactor, droplet evaporation unit and pumped counterflow virtual impactor (PCVI), the ISI segregates particles based on their inertia and phase, exclusively extracting small ice particles between 5 and 20 μm in diameter. The setup also includes optical particle spectrometers for analysis of the number size distribution and shape of the sampled hydrometeors. The novelty of the ISI is a droplet evaporation unit, which separates liquid droplets and ice crystals in the airborne state, thus avoiding physical impaction of the hydrometeors and limiting potential artefacts. The design and validation of the droplet evaporation unit is based on modelling studies of droplet evaporation rates and computational fluid dynamics simulations of gas and particle flows through the unit. Prior to deployment in the field, an inter-comparison of the optical particle size spectrometers and a characterization of the transmission efficiency of the PCVI was conducted in the laboratory. The ISI was subsequently deployed during the Cloud and Aerosol Characterization Experiment (CLACE) 2013 and 2014 – two extensive international field campaigns encompassing comprehensive measurements of cloud microphysics, as well as bulk aerosol, ice residual and ice nuclei properties. The campaigns provided an important opportunity for a proof of concept of the inlet design. In this work we present the setup of the ISI, including the modelling and laboratory characterization of its components, as well as field measurements demonstrating the ISI performance and validating the working principle of the inlet. Finally, measurements of biological aerosol during a Saharan dust event (SDE) are presented, showing a first indication of enrichment of bio-material in sub-2 μm ice residuals.

Aerosol Influence on Mixed-Phase Clouds in CAM-Oslo

2008 ◽  
Vol 65 (10) ◽  
pp. 3214-3230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trude Storelvmo ◽  
Jón Egill Kristjánsson ◽  
Ulrike Lohmann
Keyword(s):  
General Circulation ◽  
Cloud Microphysics ◽  
Number Concentration ◽  
Mixed Phase ◽  
Ice Crystal ◽  
Anthropogenic Aerosols ◽  
Ice Nuclei ◽  
New Treatment ◽  
Cloud Ice ◽  
Mixed Phase Clouds

A new treatment of mixed-phase cloud microphysics has been implemented in the general circulation model, Community Atmosphere Model (CAM)-Oslo, which combines the NCAR CAM2.0.1 and a detailed aerosol module. The new treatment takes into account the aerosol influence on ice phase initiation in stratiform clouds with temperatures between 0° and −40°C. Both supersaturation and cloud ice fraction, that is, the fraction of cloud ice compared to the total cloud water in a given grid box, are now determined based on a physical reasoning in which not only temperature but also the ambient aerosol concentration play a role. Included in the improved microphysics treatment is also a continuity equation for ice crystal number concentration. Ice crystal sources are heterogeneous and homogeneous freezing processes and ice multiplication. Sink terms are collection processes and precipitation formation, that is, melting and sublimation. Instead of using an idealized ice nuclei concentration for the heterogeneous freezing processes, a common approach in global models, the freezing processes are here dependent on the ability of the ambient aerosols to act as ice nuclei. Additionally, the processes are dependent on the cloud droplet number concentration and hence the aerosols’ ability to act as cloud condensation nuclei. Sensitivity simulations based on the new microphysical treatment of mixed-phase clouds are presented for both preindustrial and present-day aerosol emissions. Freezing efficiency is found to be highly sensitive to the amount of sulphuric acid available for ice nuclei coating. In the simulations, the interaction of anthropogenic aerosols and freezing mechanisms causes a warming of the earth–atmosphere system, counteracting the cooling effect of aerosols influencing warm clouds. The authors find that this reduction of the total aerosol indirect effect amounts to 50%–90% for the specific assumptions on aerosol properties used in this study. However, many microphysical processes in mixed-phase clouds are still poorly understood and the results must be interpreted with that in mind.

Ice Multiplication by Fragmentation during Quasi-Spherical Freezing of Raindrops: A Theoretical Investigation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vaughan T. J. Phillips
Keyword(s):  
Enhancement Factor ◽  
Characteristic Time ◽  
Number Concentration ◽  
Mixed Phase ◽  
Ice Crystals ◽  
Characteristic Time Scale ◽  
Collision Efficiency ◽  
Dimensional Dynamical System ◽  
Ice Multiplication ◽  
Mixed Phase Clouds

AbstractIce multiplication by fragmentation during collision–freezing of supercooled rain or drizzle is investigated. A zero–dimensional dynamical system describes the time evolution of number densities of supercooled drops and ice crystals in a mixed–phase cloud. The characteristic time–scale for this collision–freezing ice fragmentation is controlled by the collision efficiency, the number of ice fragments per freezing event, and the available number concentration of supercooled drops. The rate of the process is proportional to the number of supercooled drops available. Thus, ice may multiply extensively, even when the fragmentation number per freezing event is relatively small. The ratio of total numbers of ice particles to those from the first ice, namely the ‘ice–enhancement factor’, is controlled both by the number of fragments per freezing event and the available number concentration of supercooled drops in a similar manner. Especially, when ice fragmentation by freezing of supercooled drops is considered in isolation, the number of originally–existing supercooled drops multiplied by the fragmentation number per freezing event yields the eventual number of ice crystals. When supercooled drops are continuously generated by coalescence, ice crystals from freezing fragmentation also continuously increase asymptotically at a rate equal to the generation rate of supercooled drops multiplied by the fragmentation number per freezing event. All these results are expressed by simple analytical forms, thanks to the simplicity of the theoretical model. These parameters can practically be used as a means for characterizing observed mixed–phase clouds.

scholarly journals The Ice Selective Inlet: a novel technique for exclusive extraction of pristine ice crystals in mixed-phase clouds

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (12) ◽  
pp. 12481-12515 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Kupiszewski ◽  
E. Weingartner ◽  
P. Vochezer ◽  
A. Bigi ◽  
B. Rosati ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Field Measurements ◽  
Supercooled Liquid ◽  
Droplet Evaporation ◽  
Transmission Efficiency ◽  
Cloud Microphysics ◽  
Mixed Phase ◽  
Ice Crystals ◽  
Liquid Droplets ◽  
Mixed Phase Clouds ◽  
Evaporation Unit

Abstract. Climate predictions are affected by high uncertainties partially due to an insufficient knowledge of aerosol-cloud interactions. One of the poorly understood processes is formation of mixed-phase clouds (MPCs) via heterogeneous ice nucleation. Field measurements of the atmospheric ice phase in MPCs are challenging due to the presence of supercooled liquid droplets. The Ice Selective Inlet (ISI), presented in this paper, is a novel inlet designed to selectively sample pristine ice crystals in mixed-phase clouds and extract the ice residual particles contained within the crystals for physical and chemical characterisation. Using a modular setup composed of a cyclone impactor, droplet evaporation unit and pumped counterflow virtual impactor (PCVI), the ISI segregates particles based on their inertia and phase, exclusively extracting small ice particles between 5 and 20 μm in diameter. The setup also includes optical particle spectrometers for analysis of the number size distribution and shape of the sampled hydrometeors. The novelty of the ISI is a droplet evaporation unit, which separates liquid droplets and ice crystals in the airborne state, thus avoiding physical impaction of the hydrometeors and limiting potential artifacts. The design and validation of the droplet evaporation unit is based on modelling studies of droplet evaporation rates and computational fluid dynamics simulations of gas and particle flows through the unit. Prior to deployment in the field, an inter-comparison of the WELAS optical particle size spectrometers and a characterisation of the transmission efficiency of the PCVI was conducted in the laboratory. The ISI was subsequently deployed during the Cloud and Aerosol Characterisation Experiment (CLACE) 2013 – an extensive international field campaign encompassing comprehensive measurements of cloud microphysics, as well as bulk aerosol, ice residual and ice nuclei properties. The campaign provided an important opportunity for a proof of concept of the inlet design. In this work we present the setup of the ISI, including the modelling and laboratory characterisation of its components, as well as a case study demonstrating the ISI performance in the field during CLACE 2013.

scholarly journals Predicting the morphology of ice particles in deep convection using the super-droplet method: development and evaluation of SCALE-SDM 0.2.5-2.2.0, -2.2.1, and -2.2.2

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 4107-4157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shin-ichiro Shima ◽  
Yousuke Sato ◽  
Akihiro Hashimoto ◽  
Ryohei Misumi
Keyword(s):  
Method Development ◽  
Cloud Condensation Nuclei ◽  
Deep Convection ◽  
Cloud Microphysics ◽  
Mixed Phase ◽  
Computational Time ◽  
Ice Particles ◽  
Mass Dimension ◽  
Mixed Phase Clouds ◽  
Droplet Method

Abstract. The super-droplet method (SDM) is a particle-based numerical scheme that enables accurate cloud microphysics simulation with lower computational demand than multi-dimensional bin schemes. Using SDM, a detailed numerical model of mixed-phase clouds is developed in which ice morphologies are explicitly predicted without assuming ice categories or mass–dimension relationships. Ice particles are approximated using porous spheroids. The elementary cloud microphysics processes considered are advection and sedimentation; immersion/condensation and homogeneous freezing; melting; condensation and evaporation including cloud condensation nuclei activation and deactivation; deposition and sublimation; and coalescence, riming, and aggregation. To evaluate the model's performance, a 2-D large-eddy simulation of a cumulonimbus was conducted, and the life cycle of a cumulonimbus typically observed in nature was successfully reproduced. The mass–dimension and velocity–dimension relationships the model predicted show a reasonable agreement with existing formulas. Numerical convergence is achieved at a super-particle number concentration as low as 128 per cell, which consumes 30 times more computational time than a two-moment bulk model. Although the model still has room for improvement, these results strongly support the efficacy of the particle-based modeling methodology to simulate mixed-phase clouds.

scholarly journals Vertical redistribution of moisture and aerosol in orographic mixed-phase clouds

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annette K. Miltenberger ◽  
Paul R. Field ◽  
Adrian H. Hill
Keyword(s):  
Air Temperature ◽  
Unified Model ◽  
Mixed Phase ◽  
Atmospheric Models ◽  
Microphysical Properties ◽  
Cloud Microphysical Processes ◽  
Microphysical Processes ◽  
Mixed Phase Clouds ◽  
Natural Laboratory

Abstract. Orographic wave clouds offer a natural laboratory to investigate cloud microphysical processes and their representation in atmospheric models. Wave clouds impact the larger-scale flow by the vertical redistribution of moisture and aerosol. Here we use detailed cloud microphysical observations from the ICE-L campaign to evaluate the recently developed Cloud Aerosol Interacting Microphysics (CASIM) module in the Met Office Unified Model (UM) with a particular focus on different parameterisations for heterogeneous freezing. Modelled and observed thermodynamic and microphysical properties agree very well (deviation of air temperature

scholarly journals Ice Particle Production in Mid-level Stratiform Mixed-phase Clouds Observed with Collocated A-Train Measurements

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Damao Zhang ◽  
Zhien Wang ◽  
Pavlos Kollias ◽  
Andrew M. Vogelmann ◽  
Kang Yang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Northern Hemisphere ◽  
Particle Production ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Number Concentration ◽  
Mixed Phase ◽  
Liquid Water Path ◽  
Lidar Measurements ◽  
Dust Events ◽  
Mixed Phase Clouds

Abstract. Collocated CloudSat radar and CALIPSO lidar measurements between 2006 and 2010 are analyzed to study primary ice particle production characteristics in mid-level stratiform mixed-phase clouds on a global scale. For similar clouds in terms of cloud top temperature and liquid water path, Northern Hemisphere latitude bands have layer-maximum radar reflectivity (ZL) that is ~1 to 8 dBZ larger than their counterparts in the Southern Hemisphere. The systematically larger ZL under similar cloud conditions suggests larger ice number concentrations in mid-level stratiform mixed-phase clouds over the Northern Hemisphere, which is possibly related to higher background aerosol loadings. Furthermore, we show that northern mid- and high-latitude springtime has ZL that is larger by up to 8 dBZ (a factor of 6 higher ice number concentration) than other seasons, which might be related to more dust events that provide effective ice nucleating particles. Our study suggests that aerosol-dependent ice number concentration parameterizations are required in climate models to improve mixed-phase cloud simulations, especially over the Northern Hemisphere.

Beyond Cloud Microphysics: Representing Subgrid-Scale Processes in Lagrangian Cloud Models

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabian Hoffmann
Keyword(s):  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Cloud Microphysics ◽  
Mixed Phase ◽  
Droplet Growth ◽  
Subgrid Scale ◽  
Modeling Framework ◽  
Mixing Processes ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Cloud Models ◽  
Mixed Phase Clouds

<p>While the use of Lagrangian cloud microphysical models dates back as far as the 1950s, the integration of this framework into fully-coupled, three-dimensional dynamical models is only possible for about 10 years. In addition to the highly accurate and detailed representation of cloud microphysical processes, these so-called Lagrangian Cloud Models (LCMs) also allow for new ways of representing subgrid-scale dynamical processes and their effects on the microphysical development of clouds, typically neglected or only crudely parameterized due to computational constraints.</p><p>In this talk, I will present a new approach in which supersaturation fluctuations on the subgrid-scale of a large-eddy simulation (LES) model are represented by an economical, one-dimensional model that represents turbulent compression and folding. With a resolution comparable to direct numerical simulation (DNS), inhomogeneous and finite rate mixing processes are explicitly resolved. Applications of this modeling approach for warm-phase shallow cumuli and stratocumuli, and first applications for mixed-phase clouds will be discussed. Generally, clouds susceptible to inhomogeneous mixing show a reduction in the droplet number concentration and stronger droplet growth, in agreement with theory. Stratocumulus entrainment rates tend to be lower using the new approach compared to simulations without it, indicating a more appropriate representation of the entrainment-mixing process. Finally, the Wegner-Bergeron-Findeisen-Process, leading to a rapid ice formation in mixed-phase clouds, is decelerated.</p><p>All in all, this new modeling framework is capable of bridging the gap between LES and DNS, i.e., it enables representing all scales relevant to cloud physics, from entire cloud fields to the smallest turbulent fluctuations, in a single model, allowing to study their interactions explicitly and granting new insights.</p>

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