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Ice nucleation characteristics of an isolated wave cloud
Author(s) -
Cotton R. J.,
Field P. R.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
quarterly journal of the royal meteorological society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.744
H-Index - 143
eISSN - 1477-870X
pISSN - 0035-9009
DOI - 10.1256/qj.01.150
Subject(s) - ice nucleus , nucleation , aerosol , cloud computing , liquid water content , atmospheric sciences , meteorology , evaporation , ice cloud , liquid water , environmental science , geology , mechanics , physics , climatology , materials science , thermodynamics , computer science , operating system
This paper reports on a series of simulations of a single isolated gravity‐wave cloud measured during the Interaction of Aerosol and Cold Clouds campaign. Using a parcel model with explicit liquid‐ and ice‐phase microphysics, a number of different heterogeneous nucleation modes have been tested. It has been impossible for the model to reproduce, using any of the usual nucleation modes, both the observed peak ice number concentration and the ice water content, while not affecting the liquid‐water part of the cloud. The key to simulating both of these simultaneously appears to lie in most ice nucleation occurring very rapidly at a critical time coincident with evaporation of the liquid droplets in the downdraught of the lee wave. © Crown copyright, 2002. Royal Meteorological Society