Aerosol–Ice Formation Closure: A Southern Great Plains Field Campaign

Journal Article · Fri Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 2021 · Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1175/bams-d-20-0151.1· OSTI ID:1833024

Knopf, D. A. ^[1]; Barry, K. R. ^[2]; Brubaker, T. A. ^[3]; Jahl, L. G. ^[3]; Jankowski, K. A. ^[4]; Li, J. ^[5]; Lu, Y. ^[5]; Monroe, L. W. ^[3]; Moore, K. A. ^[2]; Rivera-Adorno, F. A. ^[4]; Sauceda, K. A. ^[6]; Shi, Y. ^[7]; Tomlin, J. M. ^[4]; Vepuri, H. K. ^[6]; Wang, P. ^[5]; Lata, N. N. ^[8]; Levin, E. T. ^[2]; Creamean, J. M. ^[2]; Hill, T. J. ^[2]; China, S. ^[8] ; Alpert, P. A. ^[9]; Moffet, R. C. ^[10]; Hiranuma, N. ^[6]; Sullivan, R. C. ^[3]; Fridlind, A. M. ^[11]; West, M. ^[12]; Riemer, N. ^[12]; Laskin, A. ^[4]; DeMott, P. J. ^[2]; Liu, X. ^[7]

---

1. Stony Brook University, State University of New York, Stony Brook, New York; Stony Brook University
2. Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado
3. Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
4. Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana
5. Stony Brook University, State University of New York, Stony Brook, New York
6. West Texas A&M University, Canyon, Texas
7. Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas
8. Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington
9. Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry, Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen, Switzerland
10. Sonoma Technology, Inc., Petaluma, California
11. NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York, New York
12. University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Urbana, Illinois

Prediction of ice formation in clouds presents one of the grand challenges in the atmospheric sciences. Immersion freezing initiated by ice-nucleating particles (INPs) is the dominant pathway of primary ice crystal formation in mixed-phase clouds, where supercooled water droplets and ice crystals coexist, with important implications for the hydrological cycle and climate. However, derivation of INP number concentrations from an ambient aerosol population in cloud-resolving and climate models remains highly uncertain. We conducted an aerosol–ice formation closure pilot study using a field-observational approach to evaluate the predictive capability of immersion freezing INPs. The closure study relies on collocated measurements of the ambient size-resolved and single-particle composition and INP number concentrations. The acquired particle data serve as input in several immersion freezing parameterizations, which are employed in cloud-resolving and climate models, for prediction of INP number concentrations. We discuss in detail one closure case study in which a front passed through the measurement site, resulting in a change of ambient particle and INP populations. We achieved closure in some circumstances within uncertainties, but we emphasize the need for freezing parameterization of potentially missing INP types and evaluation of the choice of parameterization to be employed. Overall, this closure pilot study aims to assess the level of parameter details and measurement strategies needed to achieve aerosol–ice formation closure. Furthermore, the closure approach is designed to accurately guide immersion freezing schemes in models, and ultimately identify the leading causes for climate model bias in INP predictions.

• Research Organization: West Texas A & M Univ., Canyon, TX (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
• Grant/Contract Number: SC0018979
• OSTI ID: 1833024
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 1833840; OSTI ID: 2539931; OSTI ID: 1912694; OSTI ID: 1912695
• Journal Information: Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Journal Name: Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society Journal Issue: 10 Vol. 102; ISSN 0003-0007
• Publisher: American Meteorological Society
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
ice nucleation
freezing
cloud
aerosol