Secondary ice formation in cumulus congestus clouds: insights from observations and aerosol-aware large-eddy simulations

Calderón, Silvia M.; Hyttinen, Noora; Kokkola, Harri; Raatikainen, Tomi; Lawson, R. Paul; Romakkaniemi, Sami

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-14479-2025

Articles | Volume 25, issue 21

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-14479-2025

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

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-14479-2025

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

Articles | Volume 25, issue 21

Research article

|

04 Nov 2025

Research article |

| 04 Nov 2025

Secondary ice formation in cumulus congestus clouds: insights from observations and aerosol-aware large-eddy simulations

Silvia M. Calderón, Noora Hyttinen, Harri Kokkola, Tomi Raatikainen, R. Paul Lawson, and Sami Romakkaniemi

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-14479-2025-supplement

Data sets

UCLALES-SALSA Simulation Data for the SPICULE-RF04b Cloud Case from "Secondary Ice Formation in Cumulus Congestus Clouds: Insights from Observations and Aerosol-Aware Large-Eddy Simulations" Silvia M. Calderón et al. https://doi.org/10.57707/fmi-b2share.50ab4fa1e7b94909b29e31c9ef0e8618

Model code and software

UCLALES-SALSA: large-eddy-simulations with aerosol-cloud-ice-precipitation interactions Silvia M. Calderón et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17047466

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Short summary

Field campaigns suggest secondary ice production (SIP) from mm-sized supercooled droplets drives rapid glaciation and precipitation development in summer cumulus congestus clouds lacking ice-nucleating particles. Our large-eddy simulations with sectional aerosol–hydrometeor microphysics support this, reproducing observed size distributions and showing how SIP accelerates aggregation, enhancing surface precipitation.