ICE-T: In-Cloud Measurements of Black Carbon, Dust, CCN, Cloud Droplet Size and Ice Particle Shapes Over the Caribbean Sea

Droplet Measurement Technologies, Boulder CO

Investigators

Abstract

This two-year effort will support collection and interpretation of fundamental aerosol and cloud microphysical measurements from instrumentation developed by Droplet Measurement Technology, Inc. (DMT) as operated aboard the NSF/NCAR C-130 aircraft during the ICE-T (the "Ice in Clouds Experiment-Tropical") field campaign. Unambiguous measurements of the mass of refractory black carbon (soot) particles to be made via a single-particle soot spectrometer (SP2), including residuals obtained from cloud droplet and ice crystal residues, will serve to describe how soot and dust particles are removed from the atmosphere as well as if (and perhaps how) these particles serve as efficient ice nuclei. Measurements of aerosol size distributions, shape and refractive index by DMT's aerosol particle spectrometer with depolarization (APSD) instrument will also be obtained. The intellectual merit of this effort rests in the identification of those mechanisms leading to first-ice within comparatively shallow (and relatively ubiquitous) maritime convective clouds, which owing to their relatively short lifetimes may serve as a source of ambient ice that effectively seeds later developing cumulus clouds at relatively warm (ca. -10 degC) temperatures as well as through secondary ice production. Broader impacts of this research include expanded interactions and synergies between supported investigators active in instrument design with university-based researchers and students specializing in interpretation of large suites of data emerging from these and other instruments. Owing to one co-investigator's affiliation with the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), international collaborations and contributions to the advancement of science in a developing nation will also be encouraged.