Prior heterogeneous ice nucleation events shape homogeneous freezing during the evolution of synoptic cirrus

Juurikkala, Kasper; Williamson, Christina J.; Froyd, Karl D.; Dean-Day, Jonathan; Laaksonen, Ari

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-13995-2025

Articles | Volume 25, issue 20

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-13995-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-13995-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 25, issue 20

Research article

|

28 Oct 2025

Research article |

| 28 Oct 2025

Prior heterogeneous ice nucleation events shape homogeneous freezing during the evolution of synoptic cirrus

Kasper Juurikkala, Christina J. Williamson, Karl D. Froyd, Jonathan Dean-Day, and Ari Laaksonen

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-13995-2025-supplement

Data sets

Supplementary material for the ACP Manuscript, Prior heterogeneous ice nucleation events increase likelihood of homogeneous freezing during the evolution of synoptic cirrus Kasper Juurikkala https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14500482

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Short summary

This study uses Large Eddy Simulations (LES) to investigate synoptic cirrus clouds from NASA’s Mid-latitude Airborne Cirrus Properties Experiment (MACPEX) campaign. Results show that prior heterogeneous ice nucleation depletes ice nuclei, creating conditions for subsequent homogeneous freezing. The findings highlight limitations of ice residual analysis in capturing cirrus evolution and provide insights into aerosol-cloud interactions critical to atmospheric and climate processes.