Experimental investigation of heterogeneous nucleation of ice in remote locations
Heterogeneous ice nucleation is one element inside the overall complexity of the Earth's atmosphere, however, it has a profound impact on our representation of cloud properties: this process affects the optical thickness and lifetime of mixed-phase clouds and cirrus clouds, and it is responsibl...
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| Other Authors: | , , , , , |
| Format: | Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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HAL CCSD
2018
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-02918036 https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-02918036/document https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-02918036/file/2018CLFAC076_NICOSIA.pdf |
| Summary: | Heterogeneous ice nucleation is one element inside the overall complexity of the Earth's atmosphere, however, it has a profound impact on our representation of cloud properties: this process affects the optical thickness and lifetime of mixed-phase clouds and cirrus clouds, and it is responsible for a significant proportion of precipitations formed globally. Heterogeneous ice nucleation is related to the presence of specific aerosol particles, named ice nuclei particles (INP), with the unique ability of lowering the energy barrier required for the formation of ice crystals, especially where cloud’s temperatures are >-38 °C. In the last decades, significant advancements have been made to the fundamental understanding of ice nucleation, however the lack of knowledge on the cloud ice phase still contributes to major uncertainties in climate model prediction of radiative forcing. This is partly due to limited observational data quantifying INP distributions and properties all over the world, especially in remote locations. In the first part of this thesis, field observations of ice nucleating particles have been performed at the Italian Climate Observatory “O. Vittori” on Mountain Cimone (2165 m above sea level), in the spring 2014 and autumn 2015, within the Bacchus and Air Sea Lab projects. For the first time we report the results of offline INP measurements, performed at a high altitude site within the Mediterranean basin. In the period 19-29 May 2014, a parallel campaign took place at the low-altitude station San Pietro Capofiume, a rural site in the Po Valley. The two campaigns were concerned, for a few days, by a Saharan Dust transport Event, which was recorded simultaneously at the high and the low-level station. We investigated the ambient number concentration of INP under condensation freezing activation mechanism (at -18 °C and above water saturation). In the second part of this thesis, we present the observations that were performed during the Arctic campaign Parcs-Maca, in the period of transition ... |
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