Articles | Volume 26, issue 12
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-9221-2026
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-9221-2026
Research article
 | 
01 Jul 2026
Research article |  | 01 Jul 2026

The impact of aerosol mixing state on immersion freezing: insights from classical nucleation theory and particle-resolved simulations

Wenhan Tang, Sylwester Arabas, Jeffrey H. Curtis, Daniel A. Knopf, Matthew West, and Nicole Riemer

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Cited articles

Abade, G. C. and Albuquerque, D. G.: Persistent mixed-phase states in adiabatic cloud parcels under idealised conditions, Q. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 150, 3450–3474, https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.4775, 2024. a
Alpert, P. A. and Knopf, D. A.: Analysis of isothermal and cooling-rate-dependent immersion freezing by a unifying stochastic ice nucleation model, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 2083–2107, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-2083-2016, 2016. a, b, c
Alpert, P. A., Kilthau, W. P., O’Brien, R. E., Moffet, R. C., Gilles, M. K., Wang, B., Laskin, A., Aller, J. Y., and Knopf, D. A.: Ice-nucleating agents in sea spray aerosol identified and quantified with a holistic multimodal freezing model, Science Advances, 8, eabq6842, https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abq6842, 2022. a
Ansmann, A., Tesche, M., Althausen, D., Müller, D., Seifert, P., Freudenthaler, V., Heese, B., Wiegner, M., Pisani, G., Knippertz, P., and Dubovik, O.: Influence of Saharan dust on cloud glaciation in southern Morocco during the Saharan Mineral Dust Experiment, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 113, D04210, https://doi.org/10.1029/2007JD008785, 2008. a
Arabas, S., Curtis, J. H., Silber, I., Fridlind, A., Knopf, D. A., West, M., and Riemer, N.: Immersion freezing in particle-based aerosol-cloud microphysics: a probabilistic perspective on singular and time-dependent models, J. Adv. Model. Earth Sy., https://doi.org/10.1029/2024MS004770, 2025. a, b
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We studied how aerosol particles help form ice in clouds. Using new theory and detailed computer simulations, we found that the way different materials are mixed within these particles has a strong impact on how much ice forms. When ice-forming material is spread across all particles, more droplets freeze than when it is only in a few. This result means that to better predict clouds and climate, models need to account for how particle materials are mixed.
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