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Cloud physics: A review for 1975–1978 IUGG Quadrennial Report
Author(s) -
Cotton William R.
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
reviews of geophysics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 8.087
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1944-9208
pISSN - 8755-1209
DOI - 10.1029/rg017i007p01840
Subject(s) - supersaturation , cloud condensation nuclei , nucleation , aerosol , cloud physics , precipitation , cloud chamber , condensation , atmospheric sciences , meteorology , physics , cloud computing , thermodynamics , nuclear physics , computer science , operating system
Major advances in cloud physics for the period 1975 to 1978 are reviewed. The topics include the physics of nucleation, precipitation physics, electrical charging processes, dynamics of convective clouds, physics and dynamics of layer clouds, and clouds in extratropical cyclones. 2.0 Warm‐cloud Nucleation and Cloud Condensation Nuclei The experiments of Katz and Kocmond (1973) cast considerable doubt upon the ability of heterogeneous nucleation (condensation) theory as described by Fletcher (1962) to predict the relationship between the size and critical supersaturation of aerosols. The former concluded that salt particles, nucleating water at a given supersaturation, produced droplets whose radii were two to three times larger than the radii predicted by theory. More recent experiments, however, by Twomey (1977), using atmospheric aerosol, and Gerber, et al. (1977), using both NaCl and (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 aerosol, provide rather convincing evidence that the relationship between size and critical supersaturation predicted by theory is consistent with their experimental results.