Search results for "Supercooling"

Persistence of orographic mixed‐phase clouds

2016

Mixed-phase clouds (MPCs) consist of ice crystals and supercooled water droplets at temperatures between 0 and approximately −38°C. They are thermodynamically unstable because the saturation vapor pressure over ice is lower than that over supercooled liquid water. Nevertheless, long-lived MPCs are ubiquitous in the Arctic. Here we show that persistent MPCs are also frequently found in orographic terrain, especially in the Swiss Alps, when the updraft velocities are high enough to exceed saturation with respect to liquid water allowing simultaneous growth of supercooled liquid droplets and ice crystals. Their existence is characterized by holographic measurements of cloud particles obtained …

A comprehensive characterization of ice nucleation by three different types of cellulose particles immersed in water: lessons learned and future rese…

2018

We present the laboratory results of immersion freezing efficiencies of cellulose particles at supercooled temperature (T) conditions. Three types of chemically homogeneous cellulose samples are used as surrogates that represent supermicron and submicron ice nucleating plant structural polymers. These samples include micro-crystalline cellulose (MCC), fibrous cellulose (FC) and nano-crystalline cellulose (NCC). Our experimental data show that particles resembling the MCC lab particle occur also in the atmosphere. Our immersion freezing dataset includes data from various ice nucleation measurement techniques available at seventeen different institutions, including nine dry dispersion and ele…

Correlation spectroscopy in molten and supercooled antimony trichloride.

1990

Correlation spectroscopy measurements performed on molten and supercooled antimony trichloride with the homodyne technique show correlation functions that have a nonexponential behavior. Two well-defined distributions of correlation times can be observed in different temporal regions. This behavior is discussed in terms of a structural relaxation of clusters dynamically formed by intermolecular and interchain bonds. The Arrhenius plot of these correlation times shows a linear behavior with the same activation energy for both. In contrast, the activation energy of shear viscosity has a different value, showing that the processes determining the temperature behavior of \ensuremath{\tau} and $…

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

2014

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…

2020

Abstract. An ice cloud chamber was developed at the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz for generating several thousand data points for mass and sedimentation velocity measurements of ice crystals with sizes less than 150 µm. Ice nucleation was initiated from a cloud of supercooled droplets by local cooling using a liquid nitrogen cold finger. Three-dimensional tracks of ice crystals falling through the slightly supersaturated environment were obtained from the reconstruction of sequential holographic images, automated detection of the crystals in the hologram reconstructions, and particle tracking. Through collection of the crystals and investigation under a microscope before and after …

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

1998

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…

2019

Abstract. We present the laboratory results of immersion freezing efficiencies of cellulose particles at supercooled temperature ( T) conditions. Three types of chemically homogeneous cellulose samples are used as surrogates that represent supermicron and submicron ice-nucleating plant structural polymers. These samples include microcrystalline cellulose (MCC), fibrous cellulose (FC) and nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC). Our immersion freezing dataset includes data from various ice nucleation measurement techniques available at 17 different institutions, including nine dry dispersion and 11 aqueous suspension techniques. With a total of 20 methods, we performed systematic accuracy and precis…

Comparative study on immersion freezing utilizing single-droplet levitation methods

2021

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…

A New Look at Homogeneous Ice Nucleation in Supercooled Water Drops

1995

Abstract The classical theory for homogeneous ice nucleation in supercooled water is investigated in the light of recent data published in various physico-chemical journal on the physical properties of supercooled water and in the light of recent evidence that the cooperative nature of the hydrogen bonds between water molecules is responsible for a singularity behavior of pure supercooled water at −45°C. Recent rates for homogeneous ice nucleation in supercooled water drops field from field experiments at the cirrus cloud level and from cloud chamber studies were shown to be quantitatively in agreement with the laboratory-derived lowest temperatures to which ultrapure water drops of a given…

The ice nucleating ability of pollen:

2002

Abstract Laboratory tests were conducted of the ice nucleating ability of four kinds of pollen in the immersion and the contact freezing modes. The diameters of the selected pollen were between 25 and 70 μm. The experiments were carried out at the Mainz vertical wind tunnel with freely suspended supercooled droplets at temperatures down to −28 °C. The immersion freezing experiments were conducted with drops of radii between 250 and 375 μm formed from distilled water with a defined amount of pollen added. The drops were freely floated in the wind tunnel while being supercooled. For the contact freezing experiments, a short burst of pollen was allowed to collide with freely suspended, superco…