European Geosciences Union c © 2005 Author(s). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions Interactive comment on “Supersaturation, dehydration, and denitrification in Arctic cirrus”

• Main Authors: B. Kärcher, E. Jensen (referee
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2005
• Subjects: Arctic
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.564.9245; http://www.cosis.net/copernicus/EGU/acpd/5/S417/acpd-5-S417_p.pdf?PHPSESSID=dace6ddc73fdb06eba86b0b36195604e

This manuscript presents an idealized simulation of Arctic cirrus formation driven by synoptic-scale motions. The calculations of HNO3 uptake include the potentially impor-tant process of diffusional burial in growing ice crystals. The conclusions concerning supersaturation within the cloud and dehydration could be generalized by showing the sensitivity to vertical wind speed and imposing descent at the end of the simulation such that all cloud ice is sublimated. Additional references to recent papers discussing these effects should be added. The HNO3 uptake and denitrification calculations are novel, and perhaps more detail could be provided describing the uncertainties and