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1969•Journal of the Atmospheric SciencesRequires access

Ice Multiplication in Clouds

Peter V. Hobbs

Open publisher page 87 citations

Abstract

Simultaneous measurements of the concentration of ice particles and ice nuclei in natural clouds have shown that the concentration of ice particles can be several orders of magnitude greater than the concentration of ice nuclei effective at the cloud top temperature. However, the ratio of ice particles to ice nuclei appears to decrease sharply with decreasing cloud top temperature, and approaches a value of unity for cloud top temperatures in the neighborhood of −25C. These results suggest that the freezing of supercooled droplets is responsible for the multiplication of the number of ice particles in clouds.

About this research paper

What this paper is about

Simultaneous measurements of the concentration of ice particles and ice nuclei in natural clouds have shown that the concentration of ice particles can be several orders of magnitude greater than the concentration of ice nuclei effective at the cloud top temperature. However, the ratio of ice particles to ice nuclei appears to decrease sharply with decreasing cloud top temperature, and approaches a value of unity for cloud top temperatures in the neighborhood of −25C. These results suggest that the freezing of supercooled droplets is responsible for the multiplication of the number of ice particles in clouds.

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OpenAlex reports 87 citations for this work. Citation counts describe recorded attention and do not establish research quality.

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Available abstract

Simultaneous measurements of the concentration of ice particles and ice nuclei in natural clouds have shown that the concentration of ice particles can be several orders of magnitude greater than the concentration of ice nuclei effective at the cloud top temperature. However, the ratio of ice particles to ice nuclei appears to decrease sharply with decreasing cloud top temperature, and approaches a value of unity for cloud top temperatures in the neighborhood of −25C. These results suggest that the freezing of supercooled droplets is responsible for the multiplication of the number of ice particles in clouds.

Key concepts: Supercooling, Ice crystals, Clear ice, Ice nucleus, Sea ice growth processes, Atmospheric sciences, Ice cloud, Ice formation

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