References

ACP

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics

ACP

Atmos. Chem. Phys.

1680-7324

Copernicus Publications

Göttingen, Germany

10.5194/acp-9-5933-2009

Parameterizing the competition between homogeneous and heterogeneous freezing in ice cloud formation – polydisperse ice nuclei

Barahona

¹ Nenes

¹ ²

School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA

School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA

19 08 2009

9 16 5933 5948

2009

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

This article is available from https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/9/5933/2009/acp-9-5933-2009.html

The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/9/5933/2009/acp-9-5933-2009.pdf

This study presents a comprehensive ice cloud formation parameterization that computes the ice crystal number, size distribution, and maximum supersaturation from precursor aerosol and ice nuclei. The parameterization provides an analytical solution of the cloud parcel model equations and accounts for the competition effects between homogeneous and heterogeneous freezing, and, between heterogeneous freezing in different modes. The diversity of heterogeneous nuclei is described through a nucleation spectrum function which is allowed to follow any form (i.e., derived from classical nucleation theory or from observations). The parameterization reproduces the predictions of a detailed numerical parcel model over a wide range of conditions, and several expressions for the nucleation spectrum. The average error in ice crystal number concentration was −2.0±8.5% for conditions of pure heterogeneous freezing, and, 4.7±21% when both homogeneous and heterogeneous freezing were active. The formulation presented is fast and free from requirements of numerical integration.

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