Articles | Volume 25, issue 19
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-12177-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-12177-2025
Research article
 | 
07 Oct 2025
Research article |  | 07 Oct 2025

Quantifying ice crystal growth rates in natural clouds from glaciogenic cloud seeding experiments

Christopher Fuchs, Fabiola Ramelli, Anna J. Miller, Nadja Omanovic, Robert Spirig, Huiying Zhang, Patric Seifert, Kevin Ohneiser, Ulrike Lohmann, and Jan Henneberger

Related authors

Contribution of the 2DVD to the investigation of cloud microphysics during the MOSAiC and Cloudlab/PolarCAP campaigns
Tom Gaudek, Cristofer Jimenez, Kevin Ohneiser, Christopher Fuchs, Jan Henneberger, Johannes Bühl, Andi Klamt, Albert Ansmann, Ronny Engelmann, and Patric Seifert
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-4105,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-4105, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Measurement Techniques (AMT).
Short summary
Inferring the Controlling Factors of Ice Aggregation from Targeted Cloud Seeding Experiments
Huiying Zhang, Fabiola Ramelli, Christopher Fuchs, Nadja Omanovic, Anna J. Miller, Robert Spirig, Zhaolong Wu, Yunpei Chu, Xia Li, Ulrike Lohmann, and Jan Henneberger
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-4397,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-4397, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
Short summary
Putting the spotlight on small cloud droplets with SmHOLIMO – a new holographic imager for in situ measurements of clouds
Christopher Fuchs, Fabiola Ramelli, David Schweizer, Ulrike Lohmann, and Jan Henneberger
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 2969–2986, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2969-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2969-2025, 2025
Short summary
Impact of seeder-feeder cloud interaction on precipitation formation: a case study based on extensive remote-sensing, in-situ and model data
Kevin Ohneiser, Patric Seifert, Willi Schimmel, Fabian Senf, Tom Gaudek, Martin Radenz, Audrey Teisseire, Veronika Ettrichrätz, Teresa Vogl, Nina Maherndl, Nils Pfeifer, Jan Henneberger, Anna J. Miller, Nadja Omanovic, Christopher Fuchs, Huiying Zhang, Fabiola Ramelli, Robert Spirig, Anton Kötsche, Heike Kalesse-Los, Maximilian Maahn, Heather Corden, Alexis Berne, Majid Hajipour, Hannes Griesche, Julian Hofer, Ronny Engelmann, Annett Skupin, Albert Ansmann, and Holger Baars
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2482,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2482, 2025
Short summary
Quantified ice-nucleating ability of AgI-containing seeding particles in natural clouds
Anna J. Miller, Christopher Fuchs, Fabiola Ramelli, Huiying Zhang, Nadja Omanovic, Robert Spirig, Claudia Marcolli, Zamin A. Kanji, Ulrike Lohmann, and Jan Henneberger
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 5387–5407, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5387-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5387-2025, 2025
Short summary

Cited articles

Bailey, M. and Hallett, J.: Growth Rates and Habits of Ice Crystals between −20 °C and −70 °C, J. Atmos. Sci., 61, 514–544, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0469(2004)061<0514:GRAHOI>2.0.CO;2, 2004. a
Beck, A.: Observing the Microstructure of Orographic Clouds with HoloGondel, Doctoral Thesis, ETH Zurich, https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000250847, 2017. a
Bergeron, T.: On the Physics of Clouds and Precipitation, Proc. Fifth Assembly of the Int. Union of Geodesy and Geophysics Lisbon, 156–180, 1935. a
Castellano, N. E., Ávila, E. E., Bürgesser, R. E., and Saunders, C. P.: The Growth of Ice Particles in a Mixed Phase Environment Based on Laboratory Observations, Atmos. Res., 150, 12–20, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2014.07.010, 2014. a, b, c, d, e
Chen, J., Rösch, C., Rösch, M., Shilin, A., and Kanji, Z. A.: Critical Size of Silver Iodide Containing Glaciogenic Cloud Seeding Particles, Geophys. Res. Lett., 51, e2023GL106680, https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL106680, 2024. a, b
Download
Short summary
We quantify diffusional ice crystal growth in natural clouds using cloud seeding experiments. We report growth rates for 14 experiments between −5.1 °C and −8.3 °C and observe strong variations depending on the cloud characteristics. Comparing our growth rates to laboratory data, we found similar temperature-dependent trends, but the laboratory rates are higher. These data fill the gap in quantitative in situ observation of ice crystal growth, helping to validate models and laboratory experiments.
Share
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint