PNNL

Abstract

The influence of initial heterogeneous nucleation on subsequent homogeneous nucleation events in cirrus clouds is investigated using a box model which includes the explicit impact of aerosols on the nucleation of ice crystals and sedimentation. Different effects are discussed, namely the impact of external mixtures of heterogeneous ice nuclei and the influence of size-dependent freezing thresholds. Several idealized experiments are carried out, which show that the treatment of external mixtures of ice nuclei can strongly change later homogeneous nucleation events (i.e., the ice crystal number densities) in different matters. The use of size-dependent freezing thresholds can also change the cloud prop erties when compared to more simple parameterizations. This size effect is most important for large IN concentrations. Based upon these findings, recommendations for future modeling and measurement efforts are presented.