A Wind Tunnel Study of Turbulence Effects on the Scavenging of Aerosol Particles by Water Drops

Abstract Laboratory experiments are described where the effects of turbulence on the impaction scavenging of aerosol particles by water drops were investigated. During the experiments the drops were freely suspended at their terminal velocities in the Mainz vertical wind tunnel. Turbulence in the tunnel airstream was produced by placing a needle obstruction upstream of the floating drop. The energy dissipation rates e were between 0.03 and 0.5 m2 s−3. The power spectrum covered a range of k values between 102 and 3 × 103 m−1, agreeing with atmospheric observations within this range. Collector drops of 346-μm, 1.68-mm, and 2.88-mm radius were exposed to indium acetylacetonate aerosol particl…

New particle-dependent parameterizations of heterogeneous freezing processes: sensitivity studies of convective clouds with an air parcel model

Abstract. Based on the outcome of laboratory results, new particle-dependent parameterizations of heterogeneous freezing were derived and used to improve and extend a two-dimensional spectral microphysics scheme. They include (1) a particle-type-dependent parameterization of immersion freezing using the numbers of active sites per mass, (2) a particle-type and size-resolved parameterization of contact freezing, and (3) a particle-type-dependent description of deposition freezing. The modified microphysical scheme was embedded in an adiabatic air parcel model with entrainment. Sensitivity studies were performed to simulate convective situations and to investigate the impact of ice nuclei con…

Riming of Graupel: Wind Tunnel Investigations of Collection Kernels and Growth Regimes

Abstract Laboratory experiments were carried out in the vertical wind tunnel in Mainz, Germany, to study the collision coalescence growth of single spherical ice particles having initial radii between 290 and 380 μm while they were freely floated in a laminar flow containing a cloud of supercooled droplets with radii between 10 and 20 μm. The experiments were performed in a temperature range between −8 and −12°C, where riming proceeds in the atmosphere, and with cloud liquid water contents lying between 0.9 and 1.6 g m−3 (i.e., values typically found in mixed-phase clouds). The collection kernels were calculated from the mass increase of the rimed ice particles and the average liquid water …

Numerical sensitivity studies on the impact of aerosol properties and drop freezing modes on the glaciation, microphysics, and dynamics of clouds

[1] Numerical simulations were performed to investigate the effects of drop freezing in immersion and contact modes for a convective situation. For the description of heterogeneous drop freezing, new approaches were used considering the significantly different ice nucleating efficiencies of various ice nuclei. An air parcel model with a sectional two-dimensional description of the cloud microphysics was employed. Sensitivity studies were undertaken by varying the insoluble particle types as well as the soluble fraction of the aerosol particles showing the effects of these parameters on drop freezing and their possible impact on the vertical cloud dynamics. The soluble fraction ɛ decides whe…

Model simulations with COSMO-SPECS: impact of heterogeneous freezing modes and ice nucleating particle types on ice formation and precipitation in a deep convective cloud

Abstract. In deep convective clouds, heavy rain is often formed involving the ice phase. Simulations were performed using the 3-D cloud resolving model COSMO-SPECS with detailed spectral microphysics including parameterizations of homogeneous and three heterogeneous freezing modes. The initial conditions were selected to result in a deep convective cloud reaching 14 km of altitude with strong updrafts up to 40 m s−1. At such altitudes with corresponding temperatures below −40 ∘C the major fraction of liquid drops freezes homogeneously. The goal of the present model simulations was to investigate how additional heterogeneous freezing will affect ice formation and precipitation although its c…

A laboratory and theoretical study on the uptake of sulfur dioxide gas by small water drops containing hydrogen peroxide under laminar and turbulent conditions

Abstract Laboratory experiments are described where the uptake of SO2 gas by water drops containing H2O2 is investigated where the taken up S(IV) is quickly converted to S(VI). During the gas uptake the drops were freely suspended at their terminal velocity by means of the Mainz vertical wind tunnel. Two series of experiments were carried out, one with a laminar air flow in the wind tunnel, one with a turbulent air flow in the wind tunnel. Afterwards, the experimental results were compared against model computations using the so-called fully mixed convective diffusion model. The experimental results for laminar flow conditions showed that the fully mixed convective diffusion model for the u…

Homogeneous freezing of single sulfuric and nitric acid solution drops levitated in an acoustic trap

Abstract The freezing temperatures of single supercooled drops of binary and ternary sulfuric and nitric acid solutions were measured while varying the acid concentration. An acoustic levitator was used which allows to freely suspend single solution drops in air without electrical charges thereby avoiding any electrical influences which may affect the freezing process. The drops of typically 500 µm in radius were monitored by a video camera during cooling cycles down to − 85 °C to simulate the upper tropospheric and stratospheric temperature range. The present data confirm that liquid solution droplets can be supercooled far below the equilibrium melting point by approximately 35 °C. They f…

A laboratory study on the uptake of HCl, HNO3, and SO2 gas by ice crystals and the effect of these gases on the evaporation rate of the crystals

The results of our new and earlier laboratory studies on the uptake of gases by ice crystals are summarized in terms of (1) the equilibrium phase diagram for a system gas/H2O, (2) the effect of these gases on the evaporation rate of ice crystals, and (3) in terms of the uptake of the gases by water drops. It is shown that the intrinsic quasi-liquid layer significantly affects the uptake of a gas by an ice surface in that, depending on the gas phase concentration, the layer thickness may be considerably increased by depressing the equilibrium freezing point causing additional surface melting. It is further shown that the evaporation rate of ice particles previously exposed to a gas may becom…

Laboratory Studies of Scattering Properties of Polluted Cloud Droplets: Implications for FSSP Measurements

Abstract Laboratory experiments were conducted in the Mainz vertical wind tunnel to study the effects of pollutants dissolved or suspended in cloud droplets on the droplet size measurements of a Forward Scattering Spectrometer Probe (FSSP). The FSSP is a widely used instrument to derive microphysical properties of atmospheric clouds. Individual droplets of different well-defined sizes were freely falling at their terminal velocities in the wind tunnel while the intensity of radiation emitted by the He–Ne laser of the FSSP and scattered by the droplets was measured. For this purpose, the FSSP was adapted and mounted to the wind tunnel. The intensity of radiation scattered by the droplets in …

Shapes and oscillations of raindrops with reduced surface tensions: Measurements at the Mainz vertical wind tunnel

Abstract Important characteristics of raindrops pertinent to fields in atmospheric sciences such as weather radar or pollution scavenging are drop shape, oscillation frequency and amplitude, as well as the internal circulation. Atmospheric raindrops are never pure water drops but contain additional components like aerosol particles and dissolved species. Surface active substances, when present, reduce the surface tension of raindrops and, thus, increase the drop deformation which in turn affects breakup and coalescence, pollutant scavenging, and, finally, the formation of precipitation. Experiments were performed at the Mainz vertical wind tunnel with raindrops freely suspended at their ter…

3-D imaging and quantification of graupel porosity by synchrotron-based micro-tomography

The air bubble structure is an important parameter to determine the radiation properties of graupel and hailstones. For 3-D imaging of this structure at micron resolution, a cryo-stage was developed. This stage was used at the tomography beamline of the Swiss Light Source (SLS) synchrotron facility. The cryo-stage setup provides for the first time 3-D-data on the individual pore morphology of ice particles down to infrared wavelength resolution. In the present study, both sub-mm size natural and artificial ice particles rimed in a wind tunnel were investigated. In the natural rimed ice particles, Y-shaped air-filled closed pores were found. When kept for half an hour at −8 °C, this morpholo…

A laboratory study of the effects of a kerosene-burner exhaust on ice nucleation and the evaporation rate of ice crystals

Abstract Laboratory experiments are described during which the influence of gases and particles from the exhaust of a kerosene burner on microphysical processes were studied. In one experimental investigation the evaporation rates of ice crystals polluted with the kerosene-burner exhaust were compared with the evaporation rates of pure ice crystals. During another experimental investigation the ice nucleating ability of the exhaust particles was studied in terms of the efficiency of the exhaust particles to act as deposition and condensation freezing nuclei, as immersion freezing nuclei, and as contact nuclei. The results of our experiments showed that the evaporation rate of ice crystals p…

A laboratory study of the uptake of HNO3 and HCl vapor by snow crystals and ice spheres at temperatures between 0 and −40°C

Abstract A laboratory experiment is described during which the uptake of HNO3 and HCl vapor by dendritic snow crystals and by single crystalline and polycrystalline small ice spheres was studied at ppbv and ppmv gas levels and at temperatures between 0 and −40°C. In one experimental investigation the vapor was allowed to be adsorbed onto the surface of the ice particles. During another experimental investigation the ice particles were allowed to grow from water vapor on fine fibers in the presence of the HNO3 and HCl vapor. The results of our experiments show that under both conditions significant amounts of HNO3 and HCl became scavenged by the ice particles. Scavenging by adsorption was ma…

A comprehensive laboratory study on the immersion freezing behavior of illite NX particles: a comparison of 17 ice nucleation measurement techniques

Immersion freezing is the most relevant heterogeneous ice nucleation mechanism through which ice crystals are formed in mixed-phase clouds. In recent years, an increasing number of laboratory experiments utilizing a variety of instruments have examined immersion freezing activity of atmospherically relevant ice-nucleating particles. However, an intercomparison of these laboratory results is a difficult task because investigators have used different ice nucleation (IN) measurement methods to produce these results. A remaining challenge is to explore the sensitivity and accuracy of these techniques and to understand how the IN results are potentially influenced or biased by experimental param…

Intercomparing different devices for the investigation of ice nucleating particles using Snomax<sup>®</sup> as test substance

Abstract. Seven different instruments and measurement methods were used to examine the immersion freezing of bacterial ice nuclei from Snomax® (hereafter Snomax), a product containing ice-active protein complexes from non-viable Pseudomonas syringae bacteria. The experimental conditions were kept as similar as possible for the different measurements. Of the participating instruments, some examined droplets which had been made from suspensions directly, and the others examined droplets activated on previously generated Snomax particles, with particle diameters of mostly a few hundred nanometers and up to a few micrometers in some cases. Data were obtained in the temperature range from −2 to …

Ice Initiation for Various Ice Nuclei Types and its Infl uence on Precipitation Formation in Convective Clouds

The Effect of Turbulence on the Accretional Growth of Graupel

Abstract Wind tunnel experiments were carried out to investigate the influence of turbulence on the collection kernel of graupel. The collection kernel defines the growth rate of a graupel accreting supercooled droplets as it falls through a cloud. The ambient conditions were similar to those occurring typically in the mixed-phase zone of convective clouds, that is, at temperatures between −7° and −16°C and with liquid water contents from 0.5 to 1.3 g m−3. Tethered spherical collectors with radii between 220 and 340 μm were exposed in a flow carrying supercooled droplets with a mean volume radius of 10 μm. The vertical root-mean-square fluctuation velocity, the dissipation rate, and the Tay…

Comparative study on immersion freezing utilizing single-droplet levitation methods

Immersion freezing experiments were performed utilizing two distinct single-droplet levitation methods. In the Mainz vertical wind tunnel, supercooled droplets of 700 µm diameter were freely floated in a vertical airstream at constant temperatures ranging from −5 to −30 ∘C, where heterogeneous freezing takes place. These investigations under isothermal conditions allow the application of the stochastic approach to analyze and interpret the results in terms of the freezing or nucleation rate. In the Mainz acoustic levitator, 2 mm diameter drops were levitated while their temperature was continuously cooling from +20 to −28 ∘C by adapting to the ambient temperature. Therefore, in this case th…

Collision efficiencies empirically determined from laboratory investigations of collisional growth of small raindrops in a laminar flow field

In laboratory experiments at the vertical wind tunnel of the University of Mainz the collisional growth of drops with radii between 70 and 170 μm in radius were observed while the collector drop freely floated in a cloud of droplets with radii ranging from 1 to 7 μm. Previously existing tables with collision efficiency values were interpolated and completed in such a way that drop growth rates calculated with these collision efficiencies match with observed growth rates. These new tables provide collision efficiency values for a wide range of drop sizes and radius ratios p including those ranges where efficiency values missed so far. This is of high importance for small p-ratios where the c…

Particle surface area dependence of mineral dust in immersion freezing mode: investigations with freely suspended drops in an acoustic levitator and a vertical wind tunnel

Abstract. The heterogeneous freezing temperatures of supercooled drops were measured using an acoustic levitator. This technique allows one to freely suspend single drops in the air without any wall contact. Heterogeneous nucleation by two types of illite (illite IMt1 and illite NX) and a montmorillonite sample was investigated in the immersion mode. Drops of 1 mm in radius were monitored by a video camera while cooled down to −28 °C to simulate freezing within the tropospheric temperature range. The surface temperature of the drops was contact-free, determined with an infrared thermometer; the onset of freezing was indicated by a sudden increase of the drop surface temperature. For compari…

A wind tunnel study of the effects of collision processes on the shape and oscillation for moderate-size raindrops

Abstract Drop–drop collision experiments were carried out at the Mainz vertical wind tunnel. Water drops of 2.5 mm diameter were freely floated at their terminal velocities in a vertical air stream and collided with 0.5 mm diameter droplets. The collisions were recorded with a high speed digital video camera at a frame rate of 1000 per second. Altogether 116 collision events were observed, 75 of which ended with coalescence, and the rest with filament type breakup. The coalescence efficiency and its dependence on the Weber number and on the eccentricity of the colliding drops showed good agreement with earlier numerical studies. Thirty-six recorded collisions were further analyzed in order …