Occurrence of seeding multi-layer clouds in the Arctic from ground-based observations

Achtert, Peggy; Seelig, Torsten; Wallentin, Gabriella; Ickes, Luisa; Shupe, Matthew D.; Hoose, Corinna; Tesche, Matthias

doi:10.5194/acp-26-3049-2026

Articles | Volume 26, issue 4

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-3049-2026

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

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-3049-2026

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

Articles | Volume 26, issue 4

Research article

|

27 Feb 2026

Research article |

| 27 Feb 2026

Occurrence of seeding multi-layer clouds in the Arctic from ground-based observations

Peggy Achtert, Torsten Seelig, Gabriella Wallentin, Luisa Ickes, Matthew D. Shupe, Corinna Hoose, and Matthias Tesche

Data sets

Occurrence of seeding multi-layer clouds in the Arctic from ground-based observations P. Achtert and M. Tesche https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17304695

Custom collection of categorize, classification, ice water content, lidar, and liquid water content data from RV Polarstern between 11 Oct 2019 and 1 Oct 2020 Ronny Engelmann et al. https://hdl.handle.net/21.12132/2.7159000f643348a6

Model code and software

SEE-GEO/Classification_algorithm_of_multilayer_clouds: v1_Achtert_et_al_2026 (v1_Achtert_et_al_2026) L. Ickes https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18757319

Short summary

We quantify the occurrence of single- and multi-layer clouds in the Arctic based on combining soundings with cloud-radar observations. We also assess the rate of ice-crystal seeding in multi-layer cloud systems as this is an important initiator of glaciation in super-cooled liquid cloud layers. We find an abundance of multi-layer clouds in the Arctic with seeding in about half to two thirds of cases in which the gap between upper and lower layers ranges between 100 and 1000 m.