Accelerated impact of airborne glaciogenic seeding of stratiform clouds by turbulence

Chen, Meilian; Jing, Xiaoqin; Li, Jiaojiao; Yang, Jing; Dong, Xiaobo; Geerts, Bart; Yin, Yan; Chen, Baojun; Xue, Lulin; Huang, Mengyu; Tian, Ping; Hua, Shaofeng

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7581-2025

Articles | Volume 25, issue 14

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7581-2025

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

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7581-2025

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

Articles | Volume 25, issue 14

Research article

|

18 Jul 2025

Research article |

| 18 Jul 2025

Accelerated impact of airborne glaciogenic seeding of stratiform clouds by turbulence

Meilian Chen, Xiaoqin Jing, Jiaojiao Li, Jing Yang, Xiaobo Dong, Bart Geerts, Yan Yin, Baojun Chen, Lulin Xue, Mengyu Huang, Ping Tian, and Shaofeng Hua

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Final revised paper (published on 18 Jul 2025)
Preprint (discussion started on 06 Feb 2025)

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

RC1:
'Comment on egusphere-2025-47', Anonymous Referee #1, 11 Feb 2025

The comment was uploaded in the form of a supplement: https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2025/egusphere-2025-47/egusphere-2025-47-RC1-supplement.pdf

Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-47-RC1
- AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Jing Yang, 17 Mar 2025
  
  We appreciate your comment. Please see our response in the attached file.
  
  Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-47-AC1
RC2:
'Comment on egusphere-2025-47', Anonymous Referee #2, 24 Mar 2025

The comment was uploaded in the form of a supplement: https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2025/egusphere-2025-47/egusphere-2025-47-RC2-supplement.pdf

Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-47-RC2
- AC2: 'Reply on RC2', Jing Yang, 16 Apr 2025
  
  The comment was uploaded in the form of a supplement: https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2025/egusphere-2025-47/egusphere-2025-47-AC2-supplement.pdf
  
  Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-47-AC2
RC3:
'Comment on egusphere-2025-47', Anonymous Referee #3, 25 Mar 2025

The comment was uploaded in the form of a supplement: https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2025/egusphere-2025-47/egusphere-2025-47-RC3-supplement.pdf

Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-47-RC3
- AC3: 'Reply on RC3', Jing Yang, 16 Apr 2025
  
  The comment was uploaded in the form of a supplement: https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2025/egusphere-2025-47/egusphere-2025-47-AC3-supplement.pdf
  
  Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-47-AC3

Peer review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision | EF: Editorial file upload

AR by Jing Yang on behalf of the Authors (17 Apr 2025) Author's response Author's tracked changes Manuscript

ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (22 Apr 2025) by Tak Yamaguchi

RR by Anonymous Referee #2 (29 Apr 2025)

RR by Anonymous Referee #1 (02 May 2025)

Suggestions for revision or reasons for rejection

Thank you to the authors for thoroughly answering the comments of all reviewers. I only have minor comments in this second round, which can be swiftly addressed before acceptance of the manuscripts.

- The authors nicely responded to the reviewer comments, but many points / questions raised have not been implemented in the manuscript. I would like to see more of the resolved comments also in the main manuscript, as also other readers may stumble upon the same questions and should not be forced to check the open discussion documents. This goes for the SEED / NOSEED definition, ice nucleation, precipitation significance (which actually was not properly discussed after reviewer comments, even though indicated), signatures of the observed radar reflectivites, etc.
- Colormap Jet: I have to disagree with the authors, because there are various colormaps allowing for more contrast among a broader range of values. I am adding a few examples here: PyART is a specific package for colormaps for remote sensing instruments and the scientific colormaps by Fabio Crameri have been designed specifically for the purpose of allowing maximum distinguishability while having color-vision deficiency friendly colormap. I am aware that jet is a prominent colormap, especially in the remote sensing community, however, it has been proved to induce biases and not being color vision deficiency friendly, and with that contradicts the guidelines by ACP. I strongly urge the authors to adapt their figures. Moreover, adequate ranges in the colormap could help to increase the contrast in the signals.

Upon these changes (which should be minor in nature), I am fully recommending the manuscript for publication.

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ED: Publish subject to minor revisions (review by editor) (02 May 2025) by Tak Yamaguchi

AR by Jing Yang on behalf of the Authors (04 May 2025) Author's response Author's tracked changes Manuscript

ED: Publish as is (05 May 2025) by Tak Yamaguchi

AR by Jing Yang on behalf of the Authors (06 May 2025)

Short summary

Several recent studies have reported complete cloud glaciation induced by airborne-based glaciogenic cloud seeding over plains. Since turbulence is an important factor to maintain clouds in a mixed phase, it is hypothesized that turbulence may have an impact on the seeding effect. This hypothesis is evident in the present study, which shows that turbulence can accelerate the impact of airborne glaciogenic seeding of stratiform clouds.