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Title: A Review of Ice Particle Shapes in Cirrus formed In Situ and in Anvils

Journal Article · · Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
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  1. Stratton Park Engineering Company, Inc., Boulder, CO (United States)
  2. NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA (United States)
  3. Desert Research Inst., Reno, NV (United States); George Mason Univ., Fairfax, VA (United States)
  4. Univ. of Manchester (United Kingdom)
  5. York Univ., Toronto, ON (Canada)
  6. Met Office, Exeter (United Kingdom); Univ. of Hertfordshire, Hatfield (United Kingdom)
  7. Australian Bureau of Meteorology, Melbourne (Australia)
  8. National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States)
  9. Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States)
  10. Pusan National Univ., Busan (South Korea)
  11. Australian Bureau of Meteorology, Victoria (Australia)
  12. Desert Research Inst., Reno, NV (United States)
  13. Univ. at Albany, NY (United States)
  14. FM Global Research, Norwood, MA (United States)
  15. Environment Canada, Toronto, ON (Canada)
  16. Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)
  17. Forschungszentrum Jülich (Germany)
+ Show Author Affiliations

Results from 22 airborne field campaigns, including more than 10 million high–resolution particle images collected in cirrus formed in situ and in convective anvils, are interpreted in terms of particle shapes and their potential impact on radiative transfer. Emphasis is placed on characterizing ice particle shapes in tropical maritime and midlatitude continental anvil cirrus, as well as in cirrus formed in situ in the upper troposphere, and subvisible cirrus in the upper tropical troposphere layer. There is a distinctive difference in cirrus ice particle shapes formed in situ compared to those in anvils that are generated in close proximity to convection. More than half the mass in cirrus formed in situ are rosette shapes (polycrystals and bullet rosettes). Cirrus formed from fresh convective anvils is mostly devoid of rosette–shaped particles. However, small frozen drops may experience regrowth downwind of an aged anvil in a regime with RHice > ~120% and then grow into rosette shapes. Identifiable particle shapes in tropical maritime anvils that have not been impacted by continental influences typically contain mostly single plate–like and columnar crystals and aggregates. Midlatitude continental anvils contain single–rimed particles, more and larger aggregates with riming, and chains of small ice particles when in a highly electrified environment. Here, the particles in subvisible cirrus are < ~100 μm and quasi–spherical with some plates and rare trigonal shapes. Percentages of particle shapes and power laws relating mean particle area and mass to dimension are provided to improve parameterization of remote retrievals and numerical simulations.

Research Organization:
Stratton Park Engineering Company, Inc., Boulder, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER). Earth and Environmental Systems Science Division; National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0017080; NNA15BA18P; NNX14AQ55G; SC0007035
OSTI ID:
1593343
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1561329
Journal Information:
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 124, Issue 17-18; ISSN 2169-897X
Publisher:
American Geophysical UnionCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Figures / Tables (40)

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54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
cirrus
cloud microphysics
ice particle habit
in situ cirrus
anvil cirrus
radiative transfer