Interacting effects of droplet number and ice formation processes on mixed-phase cold-air outbreak clouds

Huang, Xinyi; Field, Paul R.; Herbert, Ross J.; Murray, Benjamin J.; van den Heuvel, Floortje; Grosvenor, Daniel P.; Sansom, Rachel W. N.; Carslaw, Kenneth S.

doi:10.5194/acp-26-14577-2026

Articles | Volume 26, issue 20

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-14577-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-14577-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 26, issue 20

Research article

|

15 Oct 2026

Research article |

| 15 Oct 2026

Interacting effects of droplet number and ice formation processes on mixed-phase cold-air outbreak clouds

Xinyi Huang, Paul R. Field, Ross J. Herbert, Benjamin J. Murray, Floortje van den Heuvel, Daniel P. Grosvenor, Rachel W. N. Sansom, and Kenneth S. Carslaw

Data sets

Model data from perturbed parameter ensemble simulations used in manuscript submitted to ACP "Interacting effects of droplet number and ice formation processes on mixed-phase cold-air outbreak clouds" X. Huang https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18267702

Ice-nucleating particle measurements from the M-Phase 2022 flight campaign M. Tarn et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14781199

Short summary

Aerosol-cloud interactions and ice formation processes are key to modelling mixed-phase clouds in cold-air outbreaks. However, no studies have investigated the joint effects of these processes. Here, we used perturbed parameter ensembles and model emulators to show that these processes have strongly interacting effects on the properties of cold air outbreak clouds. Single sensitivity tests may therefore provide incomplete information about cloud-controlling factors.