Work

Search for Microphysical Signatures of Stochastic Condensation in Marine Boundary Layer Clouds Using Airborne Digital Holography

Year: 2019

Type: article

Abstract: Droplet growth due to stochastic condensation has been considered as one of the mechanisms to cause broadening of cloud droplet size distributions and jump the bottleneck between droplet growth due to diffusion and collision‐coalescence. Digital in‐line holography is used to measure variations in droplet number concentration and droplet size in marine boundary layer clouds. Distributions of phase relaxation times are quite broad for some clouds. Turbulence correlation times are estimated, and the comparison of these with phase relaxation times suggests that clouds exist in both fast and slow microphysical regimes. Presumed signatures of stochastic condensation, such as increasing relative size dispersion and increasing droplet size with decreasing number density, are observed.

Source: Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres

DOI: 10.1029/2018jd029033

Authors: N. Desai, S. Glienke, J. Fugal, R. A. Shaw

Institutions: Michigan Technological University, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry

Language: English

Topic: Atmospheric aerosols and clouds

Subfield: Global and Planetary Change

Field: Environmental Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: bronze

Funder: National Science Foundation

Awards: Laboratory Studies of the Effect of Turbulence on Aerosol-Cloud Interactions, EAGER: Exploring Aerosol Indirect Effects in a Laboratory Cloud Chamber