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At least 127 records · Page 7

On the Role of Airborne Ice Nucleating Particles in Primary and Secondary Ice Formation Processes in Convective Midlatitude Clouds

Abstract Formation of ice in mixed-phase clouds may proceed via primary nucleation and secondary ice production (SIP). Primary nucleation involves the presence of ice nucleating particles (INPs), while SIP follows primary nucleation, resulting in ice crystal number concentrations N ice exceeding the number of INPs. The ice formation pathways in young congestus clouds are not well understood nor are the environmental conditions favorable for the onset of SIP. Coincident airborne measurements of INPs and N ice collected during the Secondary Production of Ice in Cumulus Experiment (SPICULE) campaign over the U.S. central Great Plains are reported for young congestus clouds. Number concentrations of INPs and N ice at temperatures between −10° and −20°C were used to categorize whether SIP was active in each analyzed cloud pass. Observational data suggested that fragmentation of freezing droplets (FFDs) was occurring and the most likely SIP mechanism for ice enhancement during the early stages of the sampled clouds, where higher cloud-base temperatures and stronger updrafts produced conditions favorable for the onset of FFD. Simple model simulations of a congestus cloud were used to compare predictions of N ice from newly implemented SIP mechanisms (including FFD) alongside those from the existing Hallett–Mossop (HM) mechanism. Although predicted N ice , when all SIP mechanisms were active, was in good agreement with observations, the dominant SIP mechanism in the model was predicted to be HM. The rate of heterogeneous freezing in raindrops was likely inhibiting realistic FFD rates in the simulated cloud. These discrepancies between the observations and simulations underscore the need for extended laboratory studies to formulate improved model representations of SIP in convective clouds.

Patnaude, Ryan J. [Department of Atmospheric Scien↗

ISMIP6 Antarctica: a multi-model ensemble of the Antarctic ice sheet evolution over the 21st century

Abstract. Ice flow models of the Antarctic ice sheet are commonly used to simulate its future evolution in response to different climate scenarios and assess the mass loss that would contribute to future sea level rise. However, there is currently no consensus on estimates of the future mass balance of the ice sheet, primarily because of differences in the representation of physical processes, forcings employed and initial states of ice sheet models. This study presents results from ice flow model simulations from 13 international groups focusing on the evolution of the Antarctic ice sheet during the period 2015–2100 as part of the Ice Sheet Model Intercomparison for CMIP6 (ISMIP6). They are forced with outputs from a subset of models from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5), representative of the spread in climate model results. Simulations of the Antarctic ice sheet contribution to sea level rise in response to increased warming during this period varies between −7.8 and 30.0 cm of sea level equivalent (SLE) under Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 8.5 scenario forcing. These numbers are relative to a control experiment with constant climate conditions and should therefore be added to the mass loss contribution under climate conditions similar to present-day conditions over the same period. The simulated evolution of the West Antarctic ice sheet varies widely among models, with an overall mass loss, up to 18.0 cm SLE, in response to changes in oceanic conditions. East Antarctica mass change varies between −6.1 and 8.3 cm SLE in the simulations, with a significant increase in surface mass balance outweighing the increased ice discharge under most RCP 8.5 scenario forcings. The inclusion of ice shelf collapse, here assumed to be caused by large amounts of liquid water ponding at the surface of ice shelves, yields an additional simulated mass loss of 28 mm compared to simulations without ice shelf collapse. The largest sources of uncertainty come from the climate forcing, the ocean-induced melt rates, the calibration of these melt rates based on oceanic conditions taken outside of ice shelf cavities and the ice sheet dynamic response to these oceanic changes. Results under RCP 2.6 scenario based on two CMIP5 climate models show an additional mass loss of 0 and 3 cm of SLE on average compared to simulations done under present-day conditions for the two CMIP5 forcings used and display limited mass gain in East Antarctica.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Feedbacks Between Surface Deformation and Permafrost Degradation in Ice Wedge Polygons, Arctic Coastal Plain, Alaska

In the past three decades, an abrupt, pan-Arctic acceleration of ice wedge melting has transformed tundra landscapes, spurring the formation of hummock-like features known as high-centered polygons (HCPs). This rapid geomorphic transition profoundly alters regional hydrology and influences surface emissions of CO 2 and CH 4 . In Arctic Alaska, most recent instances of ice wedge degradation have arrested within 15–20 years of inception, stabilizing HCP microtopography. However, feedbacks between ground surface deformation and permafrost stability are incompletely understood, limiting our capacity to predict trajectories of landscape evolution in a still warmer future. In this work, we use field data from a site near Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, to develop a modeling-based framework for assessing the strength of positive (i.e., exacerbating) feedbacks on ice wedge degradation, focusing on the importance of heterogeneity in surface drainage and microtopographic conditions. Our simulations suggest that, when troughs are narrow, positive feedbacks on ice wedge melting (associated with thermokarst pool formation) are relatively weak. Positive feedbacks are markedly stronger beneath wide troughs, such as those that form above older, larger ice wedges. Seasonal thaw abruptly accelerates once a talik begins to form beneath wide and deep thermokarst pools. Once a talik initiates, winter severity and snowpack thickness increase in importance as predictors of thaw intensity in summer. Our results indicate that meter-scale heterogeneity in polygonal microtopography potentially exerts strong, nonlinear controls on thermokarst trajectories. These findings are useful for predicting future thermokarst dynamics and for interpreting the results from coarser-resolution land surface models operating at greater spatial and temporal scales.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Modeling the Winter Heat Conduction Through the Sea Ice System During MOSAiC

Abstract Models struggle to accurately simulate observed sea ice thickness changes, which could be partially due to inadequate representation of thermodynamic processes. We analyzed co‐located winter observations of the Arctic sea ice from the Multidisciplinary Drifting Observatory for the Study of the Arctic Climate for evaluating and improving thermodynamic processes in sea ice models, aiming to enable more accurate predictions of the warming climate system. We model the sea ice and snow heat conduction for observed transects forced by realistic boundary conditions to understand the impact of the non‐resolved meter‐scale snow and sea ice thickness heterogeneity on horizontal heat conduction. Neglecting horizontal processes causes underestimating the conductive heat flux of 10% or more. Furthermore, comparing model results to independent temperature observations reveals a ∼5 K surface temperature overestimation over ice thinner than 1 m, attributed to shortcomings in parameterizing surface turbulent and radiative fluxes rather than the conduction. Assessing the model deficiencies and parameterizing these unresolved processes is required for improved sea ice representation.

Geology↗

Attribution of global lake systems change to anthropogenic forcing

Lake ecosystems are jeopardized by the impacts of climate change on ice seasonality and water temperatures. Yet historical simulations have not been used to formally attribute changes in lake ice and temperature to anthropogenic drivers. In addition, future projections of these properties are limited to individual lakes or global simulations from single lake models. Here we uncover the human imprint on lakes worldwide using hindcasts and projections from five lake models. Reanalysed trends in lake temperature and ice cover in recent decades are extremely unlikely to be explained by pre-industrial climate variability alone. Ice-cover trends in reanalysis are consistent with lake model simulations under historical conditions, providing attribution of lake changes to anthropogenic climate change. Moreover, lake temperature, ice thickness and duration scale robustly with global mean air temperature across future climate scenarios (+0.9 °C °C air –1 , –0.033 m °C air –1 and –9.7 d °C air –1 , respectively). Furthermore, these impacts would profoundly alter the functioning of lake ecosystems and the services they provide.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Ice-nucleating agents in sea spray aerosol identified and quantified with a holistic multimodal freezing model

Sea spray aerosol (SSA) is a widely recognized important source of ice-nucleating particles (INPs) in the atmosphere. However, composition-specific identification, nucleation processes, and ice nucleation rates of SSA-INPs have not been well constrained. Microspectroscopic characterization of ambient and laboratory-generated SSA confirms that water-borne exudates from planktonic microorganisms composed of a mixture of proteinaceous and polysaccharidic compounds act as ice-nucleating agents (INAs). These data and data from previously published mesocosm and wave channel studies are subsequently used to further develop the stochastic freezing model (SFM) producing ice nucleation rate coefficients for SSA-INPs. The SFM simultaneously predicts immersion freezing and deposition and homogeneous ice nucleation by SSA particles under tropospheric conditions. Predicted INP concentrations agree with ambient and laboratory measurements. In addition, this holistic freezing model is independent of the source and exact composition of the SSA particles, making it well suited for implementation in cloud and climate models.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Texas A&M University Mobile Facility Measurements during TRACER (Field Campaign Report)

One of the main goals of the U.S Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Tracking Aerosol Convection Interactions Experiment (TRACER) near Houston, Texas is to improve understanding of how meteorology and aerosols impact storm dynamical and microphysical processes in deep convection to better constrain and improve their model representation. The Houston area is strongly influenced by sea- and bay-breeze circulations that generate convergence and help to initiate and organize deep convection. To properly isolate and understand the roles of varied meteorological conditions and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and ice nucleation particles (INP) distributions in different air masses, co-located thermodynamic, kinematic, and aerosol vertical profile observations are needed. The focus of this campaign was to provide key measurements in air masses both in front of and behind sea/bay breeze fronts moving through the greater Houston area to sample the airmass heterogeneity. The overarching scientific goal of this campaign is to understand how the vertical distributions of both CCN and INP correspond to the inflow layer of deep convection in maritime, background continental, and polluted continental air masses, and how these variations influence deep convection. To fully sample the heterogeneity in both meteorological conditions and aerosols across the sea-breeze front (SBF), Texas A&M University (TAMU) deployed a InterMet 3050A 403 MHz mobile unit launching iMet-4 radiosondes and the new Rapid Onsite Atmospheric Measurement Van (ROAM-V) for aerosol sampling during the TRACER intensive operational period (IOP) from June to September 2022. The suite of instruments deployed on ROAM-V included a condensation particle counter (CPC; GRIMM Model 5.403 CPC), scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS; TSI 3750 detector, TSI 3082 classifier, TSI 3088 neutralizer, TSI 3081A differential mobility analyzer), cloud condensation nuclei counter (Droplet Measurement Technologies CCN counter), micropulse lidar (Droplet Measurement Technologies micropulse lidar [miniMPL]), and a Davis Rotating Uniform size-cut Monitor (DRUM; DRUMAir 4-DRUM). Before sampling at each location, the latitude and longitude were recorded using the Global Positioning System (GPS) on the phone application “My Altitude”. The DRUM data were collected as part of a closely related ARM field campaign and also supported by DOE Atmospheric System Research grant DE-SC0021047. The TAMU team sampled these airmass heterogeneities by strategically choosing deployment sites in a different airmass than the ARM fixed sites in La Porte and Guy, Texas. On days when the sea/bay breeze boundary was pushing inland, the TAMU team would usually sample the airmass on the maritime side of the SBF at a coastal site in Galveston, Texas in the early afternoon (1730-1900 UTC) and then move inland ahead of the SBF to sample the airmass on the continental side during late afternoon (2030-2230). Figure 1 shows the Galveston maritime site and the array of sites for the late afternoon continental measurements.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Partition between supercooled liquid droplets and ice crystals in mixed-phase clouds based on airborne in situ observations

Abstract. The onset of ice nucleation in mixed-phase clouds determines the lifetime and microphysical properties of ice clouds. In this work, we develop a novel method that differentiates between various phases of mixed-phase clouds, such as clouds dominated by pure liquid or pure ice segments, compared with those having ice crystals surrounded by supercooled liquid water droplets or vice versa. Using this method, we examine the relationship between the macrophysical and microphysical properties of Southern Ocean mixed-phase clouds at −40 to 0 °C (e.g. stratiform and cumuliform clouds) based on the in situ aircraft-based observations during the US National Science Foundation Southern Ocean Clouds, Radiation, Aerosol Transport Experimental Study (SOCRATES) flight campaign. The results show that the exchange between supercooled liquid water and ice crystals from a macrophysical perspective, represented by the increasing spatial ratio of regions containing ice crystals relative to the total in-cloud region (defined as ice spatial ratio), is positively correlated with the phase exchange from a microphysical perspective, represented by the increasing ice water content (IWC), decreasing liquid water content (LWC), increasing ice mass fraction, and increasing ice particle number fraction (IPNF). The mass exchange between liquid and ice becomes more significant during phase 3 when pure ice cloud regions (ICRs) start to appear. Occurrence frequencies of cloud thermodynamic phases show a significant phase change from liquid to ice at a similar temperature (i.e. −17.5 °C) among three types of definitions of mixed-phase clouds based on ice spatial ratio, ice mass fraction, or IPNF. Aerosol indirect effects are quantified for different phases using number concentrations of aerosols greater than 100 or 500 nm (N>100 and N>500, respectively). N>500 shows stronger positive correlations with ice spatial ratios compared with N>100. This result indicates that larger aerosols potentially contain ice-nucleating particles (INPs), which facilitate the formation of ice crystals in mixed-phase clouds. The impact of N>500 is also more significant in phase 2 when ice crystals just start to appear in the mixed phase compared with phase 3 when pure ICRs have formed, possibly due to the competing aerosol indirect effects on primary and secondary ice production in phase 3. The thermodynamic and dynamic conditions are quantified for each phase. The results show stronger in-cloud turbulence and higher updraughts in phases 2 and 3 when liquid and ice coexist compared with pure liquid or ice (phases 1 and 4, respectively). The highest updraughts and turbulence are seen in phase 3 when supercooled liquid droplets are surrounded by ice crystals. These results indicate both updraughts and turbulence support the maintenance of supercooled liquid water amongst ice crystals. Overall, these results illustrate the varying effects of aerosols, thermodynamics, and dynamics through various stages of mixed-phase cloud evolution based on this new method that categorizes cloud phases.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Unified 0.25-degree gridded infrastructure-critical extreme weather for the United States from 1979 to 2100

Extreme weather events can severely disrupt critical infrastructure, triggering cascading effects on power, transportation, and essential services. However, standard weather and climate datasets often lack specialized variables necessary for hazard assessments. We present a unified dataset of infrastructure-critical weather and climate variables across the United States at 0.25° resolution, covering daily or sub-daily intervals from 1979 to 2100. The dataset includes temperature, dew point, wind gusts, precipitation partitioned by rain, snow, and freezing rain or ice pellets, lightning, and wildfire metrics. Historical conditions (1979-2023) are synthesized from observations and reanalysis products, while future projections are derived from 14 CMIP6 global climate models (historical, SSP245, and SSP585 experiments). Physically based and data-driven methods are used to estimate variables not directly provided by existing models. By integrating these variables into a single unified dataset, we enable consistent, high-resolution assessments of weather-related infrastructure risks across past and future periods, supporting wide-ranging applications in energy, transportation, water resources, emergency management, and beyond.

Climate and Earth system modelling↗

Thermal perturbation of NMR properties in small polar and non-polar molecules

Water is an important constituent in an abundant number of chemical systems; however, its presence complicates the analysis of in situ 1 H MAS NMR investigations due to water’s ease of solidification and vaporization, the large changes in mobility, affinity for hydrogen bonding interactions, etc., that are reflected by dramatic changes in temperature-dependent chemical shielding. To understand the signatures of water and other small molecules in complex environments, in particular how water interacts with the other molecules, in this work the thermally-perturbed NMR properties of water are investigated in detail by in situ MAS NMR. Our results substantially extend the previously published temperature-dependent 1 H and 17 O chemical shifts, linewidths, and spin-lattice relaxation times over a much wider range of temperatures and with significantly enhanced thermal resolution. The following major results are obtained: Hydrogen bonding is clearly shown to weaken at elevated temperatures in both 1 H and 17 O spectra, showing an increase in chemical shielding. At low temperatures, tetrahedral domains of H-bonding networks are evidenced and the observation of solid ice is made under in situ MAS conditions. The 1 H chemical shift properties in other small polar and non-polar molecules have also been described over a range of temperatures, showing the dramatic effect hydrogen bonding perturbation. Gas phase species are described where chemical exchange between gas and liquid phases plays an important role on the observed NMR shifts. The results disclosed herein lay the foundation for a clearer interpretation of complex systems during the increasingly popular in situ NMR characterization at elevated temperatures and pressures for studying chemical systems containing water molecules.

17O NMR↗

Long-term variability in immersion-mode marine ice-nucleating particles from climate model simulations and observations

Abstract. Ice-nucleating particles (INPs) in the Southern Ocean (SO) atmosphere have significant impacts on cloud radiative and microphysical properties. Yet, INP prediction skill in climate models remains poorly understood, in part because of the lack of long-term measurements. Here we show, for the first time, how model-simulated INP concentrations compare with year-round INP measurements during the Macquarie Island Cloud Radiation Experiment (MICRE) campaign from 2017–2018. We simulate immersion-mode INP concentrations using the Energy Exascale Earth System Model version 1 (E3SMv1) by combining simulated aerosols with recently developed deterministic INP parameterizations and the native classical nucleation theory (CNT) for mineral dust in E3SMv1. Because MICRE did not collect aerosol measurements of super-micron particles, which are more effective ice nucleators, we evaluate the model's aerosol fields at other high-latitude sites using long-term in situ observations of dust and sea spray aerosol. We find that the model underestimates dust and overestimates sea spray aerosol concentrations by 1 to 2 orders of magnitude for most of the high-latitude sites in the Southern Hemisphere. We next compare predicted INP concentrations with concentrations of INPs collected on filter samples (typically for 2 or 3 d) and processed offline using the Colorado State University ice spectrometer (IS) in immersion freezing mode. We find that when deterministic parameterizations for both dust and sea spray INPs are used, simulated INPs are within a factor of 10 of observed INPs more than 60 % of the time during summer. Our results also indicate that the E3SM's current treatment of mineral dust immersion freezing in the SO is impacted by compensating biases – an underprediction of dust amount was compensated by an overprediction of its effectiveness as INPs. We also perform idealized droplet freezing experiments to quantify the implications of the time-dependent behavior assumed by the E3SM's CNT-parameterization and compare with the ice spectrometer observations. We find that the E3SM CNT 10 s diagnostic used in this study is a reasonable approximation of the exact formulation of CNT, when applied to ice spectrometer measurements in low-INP conditions similar to Macquarie Island. However, the linearized 10 s diagnostic underestimates the exact formula by an order of magnitude or more in places with high-INP conditions like the Sahara. Overall, our findings suggest that it is important to correct the biases in E3SM's simulated dust life cycle and update E3SM's INP parameterizations. INP prediction errors of 2 to 3 orders of magnitude can have considerable impacts on the simulated cloud and radiative properties in global climate models. On comparing INP concentrations during MICRE against ship-based campaigns, Measurements of Aerosols, Radiation, and Clouds over the Southern Ocean (MARCUS) and Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition (ACE), we find that INPs from the latter are significantly higher only in regions closer to Macquarie Island. This alludes to the fact that physical, chemical and biological processes affecting INP concentrations as stimulated by the island could be partly responsible for the high INP concentrations observed at Macquarie Island during the MICRE campaign. Therefore, improvements to both aerosol simulation and INP parameterizations are required to adequately simulate INPs and their cloud impacts in E3SM. It will be helpful to include a parallel measurement of the size-resolved aerosol composition and explore opportunities for long-term measurement platforms in future field campaigns studying INP sources in remote marine regions.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Can changes in deformation regimes be inferred from crystallographic preferred orientations in polar ice?

Creep due to ice flow is generally thought to be the main cause for the formation of crystallographic preferred orientations (CPOs) in polycrystalline anisotropic ice. However, linking the development of CPOs to the ice flow history requires a proper understanding of the ice aggregate's microstructural response to flow transitions. In this contribution the influence of ice deformation history on the CPO development is investigated by means of full-field numerical simulations at the microscale. We simulate the CPO evolution of polycrystalline ice under combinations of two consecutive deformation events up to high strain, using the code VPFFT (visco-plastic fast Fourier transform algorithm) within ELLE. A volume of ice is first deformed under coaxial boundary conditions, which results in a CPO. The sample is then subjected to different boundary conditions (coaxial or non-coaxial) in order to observe how the deformation regime switch impacts the CPO. The model results indicate that the second flow event tends to destroy the first, inherited fabric with a range of transitional fabrics. However, the transition is slow when crystallographic axes are critically oriented with respect to the second imposed regime. Therefore, interpretations of past deformation events from observed CPOs must be carried out with caution, particularly in areas with complex deformation histories.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Ice Supersaturation Variability in Cirrus Clouds: Role of Vertical Wind Speeds and Deposition Coefficients

Abstract Aircraft measurements reveal ice supersaturation statistics in cirrus (ISSs) with broad maxima around ice saturation and pronounced variance. In this study, processes shaping ISSs in midlatitude and tropical upper tropospheric conditions are systematically investigated. Water vapor deposition and sublimation of size‐resolved ice crystal populations are simulated in an air parcel framework. Mesoscale temperature fluctuations (MTFs) due to gravity waves force the temporal evolution of supersaturation. Various levels of background wave forcing and cirrus thickness are distinguished in stochastic ensemble simulations. Kinetic limitations to ice mass growth are brought about by supersaturation‐dependent deposition coefficients that represent efficient and inefficient growth modes as a function of ice crystal size. The simulations identify a wide range of deposition coefficients in cirrus, but most values stay above 0.01 such that kinetic limitations to water uptake remain moderate. Supersaturation quenching times are long, typically 0.5–2 hr. The wave forcing thus causes a remarkably large variability in ISSs and cirrus microphysical properties except in the thickest cirrus, producing ensemble‐mean ISSs in line with in‐situ measurements. ISS variance is controlled by MTFs and increases with decreasing cirrus integral radii. In comparison, the impact of ice crystal growth rates on ISSs is small. These results contribute to efforts directed at identifying and solving issues associated with ice‐supersaturated areas and non‐equilibrium cirrus physics in global models.

Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences↗

The Abundance and Sources of Ice Nucleating Particles Within Alaskan Ice Fog

Abstract The Alaskan Layered Pollution and Chemical Analysis (ALPACA) field campaign included deployment of a suite of atmospheric measurements in January–February 2022 with the goal of better understanding atmospheric processes and pollution under cold and dark conditions in Fairbanks, Alaska. We report on measurements of particle composition, particle size, ice nucleating particle (INP) composition, and INP size during an ice fog period (29 January–3 February). During this period, coarse particulate matter (PM 10 ) concentrations increased by 150% in association with a decrease in air temperature, a stronger temperature inversion, and relatively stagnant conditions. Results also show a 18%–78% decrease in INPs during the ice fog period, indicating that particles had activated into the ice fog via nucleation. Peroxide and heat treatments performed on INPs indicated that, on average, the largest contributions to the INP population were heat‐labile (potentially biological, 63%), organic (31%), then inorganic (likely dust, 6%). Measurements of levoglucosan and bulk and single‐particle composition corroborate the presence of dust and aerosols from combustion sources. Heat‐labile and organic INPs decreased during the peak period of the ice fog, indicating those were preferentially activated, while inorganic INPs increased, suggesting they remained as interstitial INPs. In general, INP concentrations were unexpectedly high in Fairbanks compared to other locations in the Arctic during winter. The fact that these INPs likely facilitated ice fog formation in Fairbanks has implications for other high latitude locations subject to the hazards associated with ice fog.

Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences↗

A Formulation of the Many-Body Expansion (MBE) for Periodic Systems: Application to Several Ice Phases

A new formulation of the many-body expansion (MBE) for periodic systems, based on their inherent translational symmetry, is introduced and applied to 7 ice polymorphs. This new formulation is built via a hierarchical procedure connecting gas phase unit cells over finite supercells to infinite solids. For finite supercells, it is demonstrated that this method successfully recovers the energetics while reducing the scaling of the calculation of the many-body terms by a factor of ~N, where N is the system size. Furthermore, the proposed framework delineates a straightforward way to obtain properties of macroscopic systems in the limit of an infinite cell. For periodic systems, the success of this approach is demonstrated by showing that the lattice energies computed (up to the 4-th order in the MBE) reproduce the lattice energies obtained using periodic boundary conditions with an Ewald summation for 7 polymorphs of ice (Ih, II, VIII, IX, XIII, XIV, XV). This development makes it possible to quantify, for the first time, the many-body contributions to the lattice energy of various ice polymorphs. The many-body (three-body and higher) interactions were found to vary significantly among the 7 ice phases, amounting between 7-24% of the total lattice energies. So, this development opens the door for obtaining insights into solid-state properties, while leveraging the computational benefits of the MBE.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

The Portable Ice Nucleation Experiment (PINE): a new online instrument for laboratory studies and automated long-term field observations of ice-nucleating particles

Atmospheric ice-nucleating particles (INPs) play an important role in determining the phase of clouds, which affects their albedo and lifetime. A lack of data on the spatial and temporal variation of INPs around the globe limits our predictive capacity and understanding of clouds containing ice. Automated instrumentation that can robustly measure INP concentrations across the full range of tropospheric temperatures is needed in order to address this knowledge gap. In this study, we demonstrate the functionality and capacity of the new Portable Ice Nucleation Experiment (PINE) to study ice nucleation processes and to measure INP concentrations under conditions pertinent for mixed-phase clouds, with temperatures from about -10 to about -40°C. PINE is a cloud expansion chamber which avoids frost formation on the cold walls and thereby omits frost fragmentation and related background ice signals during the operation. The development, working principle and treatment of data for the PINE instrument is discussed in detail. We present laboratory-based tests where PINE measurements were compared with those from the established AIDA (Aerosol Interaction and Dynamics in the Atmosphere) cloud chamber. Within experimental uncertainties, PINE agreed with AIDA for homogeneous freezing of pure water droplets and the immersion freezing activity of mineral aerosols. Results from a first field campaign conducted at the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Southern Great Plains (SGP) observatory in Oklahoma, USA, from 1 October to 14 November 2019 with the latest PINE design (a commercially available PINE chamber) are also shown, demonstrating PINE's ability to make automated field measurements of INP concentrations at a time resolution of about 8 min with continuous temperature scans for INP measurements between -10 and -30°C. During this field campaign, PINE was continuously operated for 45 d in a fully automated and semi-autonomous way, demonstrating the capability of this new instrument to also be used for longer-term field measurements and INP monitoring activities in observatories.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Improved Convective Ice Microphysics Parameterization in the NCAR CAM Model

Partitioning deep convective cloud condensates into components that sediment and detrain, known to be a challenge for global climate models, is important for cloud vertical distribution and anvil cloud formation. In this study, we address this issue by improving the convective microphysics scheme in the National Center for Atmospheric Research Community Atmosphere Model version 5.3 (CAM5.3). The improvements include: (1) considering sedimentation for cloud ice crystals that do not fall in the original scheme, (2) applying a new terminal velocity parameterization that depends on the environmental conditions for convective snow, (3) adding a new hydrometeor category, “rimed ice,” to the original four-class (cloud liquid, cloud ice, rain, and snow) scheme, and (4) allowing convective clouds to detrain snow particles into stratiform clouds. Results from the default and modified CAM5.3 models were evaluated against observations from the U.S. Department of Energy Tropical Warm Pool-International Cloud Experiment (TWP-ICE) field campaign. The default model overestimates ice amount, which is largely attributed to the underestimation of convective ice particle sedimentation. By considering cloud ice sedimentation and rimed ice particles and applying a new convective snow terminal velocity parameterization, the vertical distribution of ice amount is much improved in the midtroposphere and upper troposphere when compared to observations. The vertical distribution of ice condensate also agrees well with observational best estimates upon considering snow detrainment. Further, comparison with observed convective updrafts reveals that current bulk model fails to reproduce the observed updraft magnitude and occurrence frequency, suggesting spectral distributions be required to simulate the subgrid updraft heterogeneity.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Improving GCM Representation of Convective Cloud Microphysics by Using ARM Raman Lidar and Cloud Radar Observations

The overall objective of this Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric System Research (ASR) funded project is to improve the representation of convective cloud microphysics in global climate models (GCMs) and check it by comparing the model simulations with observations. We have derived the cloud ice water content by synthesizing ARM Raman lidar (RL) and cloud radar observations at the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) sites. Noting that the simulated anvil clouds in terms of their macro- and micro-physical properties are sensitive to the parameterization of convective microphysical processes, observed ice water content in anvil clouds provides a useful constraint on these parameterizations. We have improved the convective microphysics parameterization scheme by (1) considering sedimentation for cloud ice crystals that do not fall in the original scheme, (2) applying a new terminal velocity parameterization that depends on the environmental conditions for convective snow, (3) adding a new hydrometeor category, “rimed ice,” to the original four-class (cloud liquid, cloud ice, rain, and snow) scheme, and (4) allowing convective clouds to detrain snow particles into stratiform clouds. We have examined the impact of improved convective cloud microphysics parameterization on the simulated global climate from GCM simulations.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗