scholarly journals Ice nucleating particles measured in Swiss alpine snow samples are spatially, temporarily and chemically heterogeneous

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Killian P. Brennan ◽  
Robert O. David ◽  
Nadine Borduas-Dedekind

Abstract. Ice nucleating particles (INPs) produce ice from supercooled water droplets through heterogeneous freezing in the atmosphere. Since the concentration of ice crystals affects the radiative properties of clouds as well as precipitation, constraining the liquid water to ice ratio could help reduce aerosol-cloud interaction uncertainties. INPs have been collected at the Jungfraujoch research station (at 3500 m a.s.l.) in central Switzerland; yet spatially diverse data on INP occurrence in the Swiss Alps are scarce and remain uncharacterized. We address this scarcity through our Swiss Alpine snow sample study which took place during the winter of 2018. We collected a total of 88 fallen snow samples across the Alps at different locations, altitudes, terrains, times since last snowfall and depths. The INP concentrations were measured using the homebuilt DRoplet Ice Nuclei Counter Zurich (DRINCZ) and were then compared to spatial, meteorological and physiochemical parameters. We also extend an alternative way of displaying frozen fraction (FF) versus temperature data through visualizing freezing temperatures as a boxplot to field collected samples. This plotting method displays the freezing temperature in one dimension, instead of the former two dimensions of FF vs temperature, allowing a condensed display of freezing temperature measurements. In the collected snow samples, large variability in INP occurrence was found, even for samples collected 10 m apart on a plain and 1 m apart in depth. Furthermore, undiluted samples had INP concentrations ranging between 1 and 100 INP ml−1 of snow water over a temperature range of −5 to −19 °C. From this field-collected data set, we parameterize the INP concentrations per milliliter of meltwater as a function of temperature with the following equation c*air (T)=e(−0.7T–7.05), comparing well with previously reported precipitation data presented in Petters and Wright, 2015. When assuming a cloud water content of 0.4 g−3 and a critical INP concentration for glaciation of 10 m−3, the majority of the snow precipitated from clouds with glaciation temperatures between −5 and −20 °C. Based on the observed variability in INP concentrations, we conclude that studies conducted at the high-altitude research station Jungfraujoch are representative for INP measurements in the Swiss Alps. Furthermore, the INP concentration precipitation estimates allow us to extrapolate the concentrations to a cloud frozen fraction. Indeed, this approach for estimating the liquid water to ice ratio in mixed phase clouds compares well with aircraft measurements, ground-based lidar and satellite retrievals of cloud frozen fractions. In all, the generated parameterization for INP concentrations in meltwater could help estimate cloud glaciation temperatures.

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 163-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Killian P. Brennan ◽  
Robert O. David ◽  
Nadine Borduas-Dedekind

Abstract. Ice-nucleating particles (INPs) produce ice from supercooled water droplets through heterogeneous freezing in the atmosphere. INPs have often been collected at the Jungfraujoch research station (at 3500 m a.s.l.) in central Switzerland; yet spatially diverse data on INP occurrence in the Swiss Alps are scarce and remain uncharacterized. We address this scarcity through our Swiss alpine snow sample study which took place during the winter of 2018. We collected a total of 88 fallen snow samples across the Alps at 17 different locations and investigated the impact of altitude, terrain, time since last snowfall and depth upon freezing temperatures. The INP concentrations were measured using the home-built DRoplet Ice Nuclei Counter Zurich (DRINCZ) and were then compared to spatial, temporal and physicochemical parameters. Boxplots of the freezing temperatures showed large variability in INP occurrence, even for samples collected 10 m apart on a plain and 1 m apart in depth. Furthermore, undiluted samples had cumulative INP concentrations ranging between 1 and 200 INP mL−1 of snowmelt over a temperature range of −5 to −19 ∘C. From this field-collected dataset, we parameterized the cumulative INP concentrations per cubic meter of air as a function of temperature with the following equation cair*(T)=e-0.7T-7.05, comparing well with previously reported precipitation data presented in Petters and Wright (2015). When assuming (1) a snow precipitation origin of the INPs, (2) a cloud water content of 0.4 g m−3 and (3) a critical INP concentration for glaciation of 10 m−3, the majority of the snow precipitated from clouds with glaciation temperatures between −5 and −20 ∘C. Based on the observed variability in INP concentrations, we conclude that studies conducted at the high-altitude research station Jungfraujoch are representative for INP measurements in the Swiss Alps. Furthermore, the INP concentration estimates in precipitation allow us to extrapolate the concentrations to a frozen cloud fraction. Indeed, this approach for estimating the liquid water-to-ice ratio in mixed-phase clouds compares well with aircraft measurements, ground-based lidar and satellite retrievals of frozen cloud fractions. In all, the generated parameterization for INP concentrations in snowmelt could help estimate cloud glaciation temperatures.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cyril Brunner ◽  
Benjamin Tobias Brem ◽  
Martine Collaud Coen ◽  
Franz Conen ◽  
Martin Steinbacher ◽  
...  

Abstract. Cloud radiative properties, cloud lifetime, and precipitation initiation are strongly influenced by the cloud phase. Between ~ 235 and 273 K, ice nucleating particles (INPs) are responsible for the initial phase transition from the liquid to the ice phase in cloud hydrometeors. This study analyzes immersion-mode INP concentrations measured at 243 K at the High Altitude Research Station Jungfraujoch (3580 m a.s.l.) between February 2020 and January 2021, thereby presenting the longest continuous, high-resolution (20 min) data set of online INP measurements to date. The high time resolution and continuity allow to study the seasonal and the diurnal variability of INPs. After exclusion of special events, like Saharan dust events (SDEs), we found a seasonal cycle of INPs, highest in April (median in spring 3.1 INP std L−1), followed by summer (median: 1.6 INP std L−1) and lowest in fall and winter (median: 0.5 INP std L−1 and 0.7 INP std L−1, respectively). Pollen or subpollen particles were deemed unlikely to be responsible for elevated INP concentrations in spring and summer, as periods with high pollen loads from nearby measurement stations do not coincide with the periods of high INP concentrations. Furthermore, for days when the site was purely in the free troposphere (FT), no diurnal cycle in INP concentrations was observed, while days with boundary layer intrusions (BLI) showed a diurnal cycle. The seasonal and diurnal variability of INPs during periods excluding SDEs is with a factor of 7 and 3.3, respectively, significantly lower than the overall variability observed in INP concentration including SDEs of more than three orders of magnitude, when peak values result from SDEs. The median INP concentration over the analyzed 12 months was 1.2 INP std L−1 for FT periods excluding SDEs, and 1.4 INP std L−1 for both FT and BLI, and incl. SDEs, reflecting that despite SDEs showing strong but comparatively brief INP signals, they have a minor impact on the observed annual median INP concentration.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shiyuan Gao ◽  
Hsiao-Yi Chen ◽  
Marco Bernardi

AbstractPoint defects in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) have attracted growing attention as bright single-photon emitters. However, understanding of their atomic structure and radiative properties remains incomplete. Here we study the excited states and radiative lifetimes of over 20 native defects and carbon or oxygen impurities in hBN using ab initio density functional theory and GW plus Bethe-Salpeter equation calculations, generating a large data set of their emission energy, polarization and lifetime. We find a wide variability across quantum emitters, with exciton energies ranging from 0.3 to 4 eV and radiative lifetimes from ns to ms for different defect structures. Through a Bayesian statistical analysis, we identify various high-likelihood charge-neutral defect emitters, among which the native VNNB defect is predicted to possess emission energy and radiative lifetime in agreement with experiments. Our work advances the microscopic understanding of hBN single-photon emitters and introduces a computational framework to characterize and identify quantum emitters in 2D materials.


2008 ◽  
Vol 8 (22) ◽  
pp. 6813-6822 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Kleffmann ◽  
P. Wiesen

Abstract. In the present pilot study, an optimized LOPAP instrument (LOng Path Absorption Photometer) for the detection of nitrous acid (HONO) in the atmosphere (DL 0.2 pptV) was tested at the high alpine research station Jungfraujoch at 3580 m altitude in the Swiss Alps under conditions comparable to polar regions. HONO concentrations in the range <0.5–50 pptV with an average of 7.5 pptV were observed at the Jungfraujoch. The diurnal profiles obtained exhibited clear maxima at noon and minima with very low concentration during the night supporting the proposed photochemical production of HONO. In good agreement with recent measurements at the South Pole, it was demonstrated, that interferences of chemical HONO instruments can significantly influence the measurements and lead to considerable overestimations, especially for low pollution level. Accordingly, the active correction of interferences is of paramount importance for the determination of reliable HONO data.


2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (16) ◽  
pp. 10609-10620 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johannes Bühl ◽  
Patric Seifert ◽  
Alexander Myagkov ◽  
Albert Ansmann

Abstract. An analysis of the Cloudnet data set collected at Leipzig, Germany, with special focus on mixed-phase layered clouds is presented. We derive liquid- and ice-water content together with vertical motions of ice particles falling through cloud base. The ice mass flux is calculated by combining measurements of ice-water content and particle Doppler velocity. The efficiency of heterogeneous ice formation and its impact on cloud lifetime is estimated for different cloud-top temperatures by relating the ice mass flux and the liquid-water content at cloud top. Cloud radar measurements of polarization and Doppler velocity indicate that ice crystals formed in mixed-phase cloud layers with a geometrical thickness of less than 350 m are mostly pristine when they fall out of the cloud.


2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (14) ◽  
pp. 9145-9162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lena Frey ◽  
Frida A.-M. Bender ◽  
Gunilla Svensson

Abstract. The effects of different aerosol types on cloud albedo are analysed using the linear relation between total albedo and cloud fraction found on a monthly mean scale in regions of subtropical marine stratocumulus clouds and the influence of simulated aerosol variations on this relation. Model experiments from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5 (CMIP5) are used to separately study the responses to increases in sulfate, non-sulfate and all anthropogenic aerosols. A cloud brightening on the month-to-month scale due to variability in the background aerosol is found to dominate even in the cases where anthropogenic aerosols are added. The aerosol composition is of importance for this cloud brightening, that is thereby region dependent. There is indication that absorbing aerosols to some extent counteract the cloud brightening but scene darkening with increasing aerosol burden is generally not supported, even in regions where absorbing aerosols dominate. Month-to-month cloud albedo variability also confirms the importance of liquid water content for cloud albedo. Regional, monthly mean cloud albedo is found to increase with the addition of anthropogenic aerosols and more so with sulfate than non-sulfate. Changes in cloud albedo between experiments are related to changes in cloud water content as well as droplet size distribution changes, so that models with large increases in liquid water path and/or cloud droplet number show large cloud albedo increases with increasing aerosol. However, no clear relation between model sensitivities to aerosol variations on the month-to-month scale and changes in cloud albedo due to changed aerosol burden is found.


2022 ◽  
pp. 1-48
Author(s):  
Yi Ming

Abstract A negative shortwave cloud feedback associated with higher extratropical liquid water content in mixed-phase clouds is a common feature of global warming simulations, and multiple mechanisms have been hypothesized. A set of process-level experiments performed with an idealized global climate model (a dynamical core with passive water and cloud tracers and full Rotstayn-Klein single-moment microphysics) show that the common picture of the liquid water path (LWP) feedback in mixed-phase clouds being controlled by the amount of ice susceptible to phase change is not robust. Dynamic condensate processes—rather than static phase partitioning—directly change with warming, with varied impacts on liquid and ice amounts. Here, three principal mechanisms are responsible for the LWP response, namely higher adiabatic cloud water content, weaker liquid-to-ice conversion through the Bergeron-Findeisen process, and faster melting of ice and snow to rain. Only melting is accompanied by a substantial loss of ice, while the adiabatic cloud water content increase gives rise to a net increase in ice water path (IWP) such that total cloud water also increases without an accompanying decrease in precipitation efficiency. Perturbed parameter experiments with a wide range of climatological LWP and IWP demonstrate a strong dependence of the LWP feedback on the climatological LWP and independence from the climatological IWP and supercooled liquid fraction. This idealized setup allows for a clean isolation of mechanisms and paints a more nuanced picture of the extratropical mixed-phase cloud water feedback than simple phase change.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Revell ◽  
Andrea Stenke ◽  
Beiping Luo ◽  
Stefanie Kremser ◽  
Eugene Rozanov ◽  
...  

Abstract. To simulate the impacts of volcanic eruptions on the stratosphere, chemistry-climate models that do not include an online aerosol module require temporally and spatially resolved aerosol size parameters for heterogeneous chemistry and aerosol radiative properties as a function of wavelength. For phase 1 of the Chemistry-Climate Model Initiative (CCMI-1) and, later, for phase 6 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6) two such stratospheric aerosol data sets were compiled, whose functional capability and representativeness are compared here. For CCMI-1, the SAGE-4λ data set was compiled, which hinges on the measurements at four wavelengths of the SAGE (Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment) II satellite instrument and uses ground-based Lidar measurements for gap-filling immediately after the Mt. Pinatubo eruption, when the stratosphere was optically opaque for SAGE II. For CMIP6, the new SAGE-3λ data set was compiled, which excludes the least reliable SAGE II wavelength and uses CLAES (Cryogenic Limb Array Etalon Spectrometer) measurements on UARS, the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, for gap-filling following the Mt. Pinatubo eruption instead of ground-based Lidars. Here, we performed SOCOLv3 (Solar Climate Ozone Links version 3) chemistry-climate model simulations of the recent past (1986–2005) to investigate the impact of the Mt. Pinatubo eruption in 1991 on stratospheric temperature and ozone and how this response differs depending on which aerosol data set is applied. The use of SAGE-4λ results in heating and ozone loss being overestimated in the lower stratosphere compared to observations in the post-eruption period by approximately 3 K and 0.2 ppmv, respectively. However, less heating occurs in the model simulations based on SAGE-3λ, because the improved gap-filling procedures after the eruption lead to less aerosol loading in the tropical lower stratosphere. As a result, simulated temperature anomalies in the model simulations based on SAGE-3λ for CMIP6 are in excellent agreement with MERRA and ERA-Interim reanalyses in the post-eruption period. Less heating in the simulations with SAGE-3λ means that the rate of tropical upwelling does not strengthen as much as it does in the simulations with SAGE-4λ, which limits dynamical uplift of ozone and therefore provides more time for ozone to accumulate in tropical mid-stratospheric air. Ozone loss following the Mt. Pinatubo eruption is overestimated by 0.1 ppmv in the model simulations based on SAGE-3λ, which is a better agreement with observations than in the simulations based on SAGE-4λ. Overall, the CMIP6 stratospheric aerosol data set, SAGE-3λ, allows SOCOLv3 to more accurately simulate the post-Pinatubo eruption period.


2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 5701-5717 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Fiedler ◽  
G. Baumgarten ◽  
U. Berger ◽  
P. Hoffmann ◽  
N. Kaifler ◽  
...  

Abstract. Noctilucent clouds (NLC) have been measured by the Rayleigh/Mie/Raman-lidar at the ALOMAR research facility in Northern Norway (69° N, 16° E). From 1997 to 2010 NLC were detected during more than 1850 h on 440 different days. Colocated MF-radar measurements and calculations with the Leibniz-Institute Middle Atmosphere (LIMA-) model are used to characterize the background atmosphere. Temperatures as well as horizontal winds at 83 km altitude show distinct differences during NLC observations compared to when NLC are absent. The seasonally averaged temperature is lower and the winds are stronger westward when NLC are detected. The wind separation is a robust feature as it shows up in measurements as well as in model results and it is consistent with the current understanding that lower temperatures support the existence of ice particles. For the whole 14-year data set there is no statistically significant relation between NLC occurrence and solar Lyman-α radiation. On the other hand NLC occurrence and temperatures at 83 km show a significant anti-correlation, which suggests that the thermal state plays a major role for the existence of ice particles and dominates the pure Lyman-α influence on water vapor during certain years. We find the seasonal mean NLC altitudes to be correlated to both Lyman-α radiation and temperature. NLC above ALOMAR are strongly influenced by atmospheric tides. The cloud water content varies by a factor of 2.8 over the diurnal cycle. Diurnal and semidiurnal amplitudes and phases show some pronounced year-to-year variations. In general, amplitudes as well as phases vary in a different manner. Amplitudes change by a factor of more than 3 and phases vary by up to 7 h. Such variability could impact long-term NLC observations which do not cover the full diurnal cycle.


2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Minkov

PurposeHofstede’s model of national culture has enjoyed enormous popularity but rests partly on faith. It has never been fully replicated and its predictive properties have been challenged. The purpose of this paper is to provide a test of the model’s coherence and utility.Design/methodology/approachAnalyses of secondary data, including the World Values Survey, and a new survey across 56 countries represented by nearly 53,000 probabilistically selected respondents.FindingsImproved operationalizations of individualism-collectivism (IDV-COLL) suggest it is a robust dimension of national culture. A modern IDV-COLL index supersedes Hofstede’s 50 year-old original one. Power distance (PD) seems to be a logical facet of IDV-COLL, rather than an independent dimension. Uncertainty avoidance (UA) lacks internal reliability. Approval of restrictive societal rules and laws is a facet of COLL and is not associated with national anxiety or neuroticism. UA is not a predictor of any of its presumed main correlates: importance of job security, preference for a safe job, trust, racism and xenophobia, subjective well-being, innovation, and economic freedom. The dimension of masculinity-femininity (MAS-FEM) lacks coherence. MAS and FEM job goals and broader values are correlated positively, not negatively, and are not related to the MAS-FEM index. MAS-FEM is not a predictor of any of its presumed main correlates: achievement and competition orientation, help and compassion, preference for a workplace with likeable people, work orientation, religiousness, gender egalitarianism, foreign aid. After a radical reconceptualization and a new operationalization, the so-called “fifth dimension” (CWD or long-term orientation) becomes more coherent and useful. The new version, called flexibility-monumentalism (FLX-MON), explains the cultural differences between East Asian Confucian societies at one extreme and Latin America plus Africa at the other, and is the best predictor of national differences in educational achievement.Research limitations/implicationsDifferences between subsidiaries of a multinational company, such as IBM around 1970, are not necessarily a good source of knowledge about broad cultural differences. A model of national culture must be validated across a large number of countries from all continents and its predictions should withstand various plausible controls. Much of Hofstede’s model (UA, MAS-FEM) fails this test while the remaining part (IDV-COLL, PD, LTO) needs a serious revision.Practical implicationsConsultancies and business schools still teach Hofstede’s model uncritically. They need to be aware of its deficiencies.Originality/valueAs UA and MAS-FEM are apparently misleading artifacts of Hofstede’s IBM data set, a thorough revision of Hofstede’s model is proposed, reducing it to two dimensions: IDV-COLL and FLX-MON.


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