Quantifying ice nucleation by silver iodide aerosols

May 1990.Also issued as author's dissertation (Ph.D.) -- Colorado State University, 1990.Includes bibliographical references.Laboratory studies of artificial ice nucleating aerosols used for weather modification by cloud seeding have generally been inadequate for describing their complex action in the varied temperature, pressure humidity, and cloud conditions that can be encountered in the atmosphere. This study provides a quantitative framework for predicting ice formation by aerosol particles based on experiments which specifically target currently accepted mechanisms by which ice can form. A physical system for reproducing realistic atmospheric cloud conditions, the Colorado State University dynamic (controlled expansion) cloud chamber, is described. Physical simulations of adiabatic cloud formation and growth are demonstrated. Methodologies were also formulated to use the cloud chamber and other available instrumentation to isolate the action of ice nucleating aerosols by accepted primary ice nucleation modes. These methods were applied to the study of two chemically different silver iodide (AgI) - type aerosols, generated in the exact form in which they have been used for seeding natural clouds . The results were formulated as a function of basic thermodynamic quantities and particle size. An available one dimensional numerical cloud model with microphysical detail was adapted for the equivalent simulation of experiments performed in the cloud chamber. The model was utilized as a diagnostic tool to estimate water supersaturation in association with experiments and it was used for comparison of the predictions of new ice nucleus formulations with observations from generalized seeding simulations conducted in the cloud chamber. The nucleant and mode-specific formulations represent vast improvements compared to available formulations for "pure" AgI. The general implications of these new results were tested by using the model to simulate a few common seeding situations in the atmosphere, and the transferability of results was evaluated by modeling two actual seeding experiment s conducted in summertime cumuli . Within the limitations of the cloud model used, agreement with the atmospheric results was very good. The results of this study should be most useful for designing standard and better methods for the quantitative, study of ice nucleation by artificially generated and natural aerosols, and for evaluating cloud seeding methodologies and potential seeding effects using more complex microphysical - dynamic cloud models.Sponsored by the National Science Foundation ATM-8519370 and ATM-8813345

A light scattering instrument for investigating cloud ice microcrystal morphology

We describe an optical scattering instrument designed to assess the shapes and sizes of microscopic atmospheric cloud particles, especially the smallest ice crystals that can profoundly affect cloud processes and radiative properties yet cannot be seen clearly using in situ cloud particle imaging probes. The new instrument captures high-resolution spatial light scattering patterns from individual particles down to ~1 μm in size passing through a laser beam. Its significance lies in the ability of these patterns to provide morphological data for particle sizes well below the optical resolution limits of current probes

PRA and Conceptual Design

Once a project obtains approval, decision makers have to consider a variety of alternative paths for completing the project and meeting the project objectives. How decisions are made involves a variety of elements including: cost, experience, current technology, ideologies, politics, future needs and desires, capabilities, manpower, timing, available information, and for many ventures management needs to assess the elements of risk versus reward. The use of high level Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) Models during conceptual design phases provides management with additional information during the decision making process regarding the risk potential for proposed operations and design prototypes. The methodology can be used as a tool to: 1) allow trade studies to compare alternatives based on risk, 2) determine which elements (equipment, process or operational parameters) drives the risk, and 3) provide information to mitigate or eliminate risks early in the conceptual design to lower costs. Creating system models using conceptual design proposals and generic key systems based on what is known today can provide an understanding of the magnitudes of proposed systems and operational risks and facilitates trade study comparisons early in the decision making process. Identifying the "best" way to achieve the desired results is difficult, and generally occurs based on limited information. PRA provides a tool for decision makers to explore how some decisions will affect risk before the project is committed to that path, which can ultimately save time and money

The Role of Information Sharing to Improve Case Management in Child Welfare

Congress enacted the Adoption and Safe Families Act to improve outcomes concerning the permanency, safety, and wellbeing of children in the care of child welfare agencies. However, achieving its goals for the more than 700,000 children who spend time in the custody of child protective services (CPS) every year in the United States is made more difficult by their poorer health compared to the general population.1 Common health concerns among children in CPS custody include developmental delay (e.g., intellectual delay or disability, gross or fine motor delay, speech delay), infections diseases, mental and behavioral health concerns, and medical concerns. Higher levels of healthcare compared to other children who live in poverty are often required.2 While health concerns may have been identified before children entered CPS custody, connections to healthcare providers and services are disrupted when children are removed from their families of origin and placed in out-of-home care. Efforts to collect a child’s complete medical history upon entering care may be difficult, and incomplete histories negatively impact health and disease management. Moreover, disruptions in healthcare can continue even after children enter CPS custody and out-of-home care—for example, when children change placements or caseworkers—leading to additional challenges managing children’s health needs and increasing healthcare use.

Observation of playa salts as nuclei in orographic wave clouds

During the Ice in Clouds Experiment-Layer Clouds (ICE-L), dry lakebed, or playa, salts from the Great Basin region of the United States were observed as cloud nuclei in orographic wave clouds over Wyoming. Using a counterflow virtual impactor in series with a single-particle mass spectrometer, sodium-potassium-magnesium-calcium-chloride salts were identified as residues of cloud droplets. Importantly, these salts produced similar mass spectral signatures to playa salts with elevated cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) efficiencies close to sea salt. Using a suite of chemical characterization instrumentation, the playa salts were observed to be internally mixed with oxidized organics, presumably produced by cloud processing, as well as carbonate. These salt particles were enriched as residues of large droplets (>19 μm) compared to smaller droplets (>7 μm). In addition, a small fraction of silicate-containing playa salts were hypothesized to be important in the observed heterogeneous ice nucleation processes. While the high CCN activity of sea salt has been demonstrated to play an important role in cloud formation in marine environments, this study provides direct evidence of the importance of playa salts in cloud formation in continental North America has not been shown previously. Studies are needed to model and quantify the impact of playas on climate globally, particularly because of the abundance of playas and expected increases in the frequency and intensity of dust storms in the future due to climate and land use changes

Relationships of Biomass-Burning Aerosols to Ice in Orographic Wave Clouds

Ice concentrations in orographic wave clouds at temperatures between −24° and −29°C were shown to be related to aerosol characteristics in nearby clear air during five research flights over the Rocky Mountains. When clouds with influence from colder temperatures were excluded from the dataset, mean ice nuclei and cloud ice number concentrations were very low, on the order of 1–5 L^(−1). In this environment, ice number concentrations were found to be significantly correlated with the number concentration of larger particles, those larger than both 0.1- and 0.5-μm diameter. A variety of complementary techniques was used to measure aerosol size distributions and chemical composition. Strong correlations were also observed between ice concentrations and the number concentrations of soot and biomass-burning aerosols. Ice nuclei concentrations directly measured in biomass-burning plumes were the highest detected during the project. Taken together, this evidence indicates a potential role for biomass-burning aerosols in ice formation, particularly in regions with relatively low concentrations of other ice nucleating aerosols

A new method for operating a continuous-flow diffusion chamber to investigate immersion freezing: assessment and performance study

Glaciation in mixed-phase clouds predominantly occurs through the immersion-freezing mode where ice-nucleating particles (INPs) immersed within supercooled droplets induce the nucleation of ice. Model representations of this process currently are a large source of uncertainty in simulating cloud radiative properties, so to constrain these estimates, continuous-flow diffusion chamber (CFDC)-style INP devices are commonly used to assess the immersion-freezing efficiencies of INPs. This study explored a new approach to operating such an ice chamber that provides maximum activation of particles without droplet breakthrough and correction factor ambiguity to obtain high-quality INP measurements in a manner that previously had not been demonstrated to be possible. The conditioning section of the chamber was maintained at -20 degrees C and water relative humidity (RHO conditions of 113 % to maximize the droplet activation, and the droplets were supercooled with an independently temperature-controlled nucleation section at a steady cooling rate (0.5 degrees C min(-1)) to induce the freezing of droplets and evaporation of unfrozen droplets. The performance of the modified compact ice chamber (MCIC) was evaluated using four INP species: K-feldspar, illite-NX, Argentinian soil dust, and airborne soil dusts from an arable region that had shown ice nucleation over a wide span of supercooled temperatures. Dry-dispersed and size-selected K-feldspar particles were generated in the laboratory. Illite-NX and soil dust particles were sampled during the second phase of the Fifth International Ice Nucleation Workshop (FIN-02) campaign, and airborne soil dust particles were sampled from an ambient aerosol inlet. The measured ice nucleation efficiencies of model aerosols that had a surface active site density (n(s)) metric were higher but mostly agreed within 1 order of magnitude compared to results reported in the literature

Experimental study of the role of physicochemical surface processing on the IN ability of mineral dust particles

During the measurement campaign FROST 2 (FReezing Of duST 2), the Leipzig Aerosol Cloud Interaction Simulator (LACIS) was used to investigate the influence of various surface modifications on the ice nucleating ability of Arizona Test Dust (ATD) particles in the immersion freezing mode. The dust particles were exposed to sulfuric acid vapor, to water vapor with and without the addition of ammonia gas, and heat using a thermodenuder operating at 250 °C. Size selected, quasi monodisperse particles with a mobility diameter of 300 nm were fed into LACIS and droplets grew on these particles such that each droplet contained a single particle. Temperature dependent frozen fractions of these droplets were determined in a temperature range between −40 °C ≤T≤−28 °C. The pure ATD particles nucleated ice over a broad temperature range with their freezing behavior being separated into two freezing branches characterized through different slopes in the frozen fraction vs. temperature curves. Coating the ATD particles with sulfuric acid resulted in the particles' IN potential significantly decreasing in the first freezing branch (T>−35 °C) and a slight increase in the second branch (T≤−35 °C). The addition of water vapor after the sulfuric acid coating caused the disappearance of the first freezing branch and a strong reduction of the IN ability in the second freezing branch. The presence of ammonia gas during water vapor exposure had a negligible effect on the particles' IN ability compared to the effect of water vapor. Heating in the thermodenuder led to a decreased IN ability of the sulfuric acid coated particles for both branches but the additional heat did not or only slightly change the IN ability of the pure ATD and the water vapor exposed sulfuric acid coated particles. In other words, the combination of both sulfuric acid and water vapor being present is a main cause for the ice active surface features of the ATD particles being destroyed. A possible explanation could be the chemical transformation of ice active metal silicates to metal sulfates. The strongly enhanced reaction between sulfuric acid and dust in the presence of water vapor and the resulting significant reductions in IN potential are of importance for atmospheric ice cloud formation. Our findings suggest that the IN concentration can decrease by up to one order of magnitude for the conditions investigated

Heterogeneous ice nucleation properties of natural desert dust particles coated with a surrogate of secondary organic aerosol

Ice nucleation abilities of surface collected mineral dust particles from the Sahara (SD) and Asia (AD) are investigated for the temperature (T) range 253–233 K and for supersaturated relative humidity (RH) conditions in the immersion freezing regime. The dust particles were also coated with a proxy of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) from the dark ozonolysis of α-pinene to better understand the influence of atmospheric coatings on the immersion freezing ability of mineral dust particles. The measurements are conducted on polydisperse particles in the size range 0.01–3 µm with three different ice nucleation chambers. Two of the chambers follow the continuous flow diffusion chamber (CFDC) principle (Portable Ice Nucleation Chamber, PINC) and the Colorado State University CFDC (CSU-CFDC), whereas the third was the Aerosol Interactions and Dynamics in the Atmosphere (AIDA) cloud expansion chamber. From observed activated fractions (AFs) and ice nucleation active site (INAS) densities, it is concluded within experimental uncertainties that there is no significant difference between the ice nucleation ability of the particular SD and AD samples examined. A small bias towards higher INAS densities for uncoated versus SOA-coated dusts is found but this is well within the 1σ (66 % prediction bands) region of the average fit to the data, which captures 75 % of the INAS densities observed in this study. Furthermore, no systematic differences are observed between SOA-coated and uncoated dusts in both SD and AD cases, regardless of coating thickness (3–60 nm). The results suggest that any differences observed are within the uncertainty of the measurements or differences in cloud chamber parameters such as size fraction of particles sampled, and residence time, as well as assumptions in using INAS densities to compare polydisperse aerosol measurements which may show variable composition with particle size. Coatings with similar properties to that of the SOA in this work and with coating thickness up to 60 nm are not expected to impede or enhance the immersion mode ice nucleation ability of mineral dust particles.ISSN:1680-7375ISSN:1680-736

Rapidly evolving ultrafine and fine mode biomass smoke physical properties: Comparing laboratory and field results

Combining field and laboratory results, we present biomass smoke physical properties. We report sub-0.56 µm diameter (Dp) particle sizing (fast mobility particle sizer, FMPS) plus light absorption and scattering at 870nm (photoacoustic extinctiometer). For Dp\u3c200 \u3enm, the FMPS characterized sizing within ±20% compared to standards. As compared to the traditional scanning mobility particle sizer, the FMPS responded most accurately to single-mode polydispersions with mean Dp\u3c200 \u3enm, which characterized the smoke sampled here. Smoke was measured from laboratory fresh emissions (seconds to hours old), the High Park Fire (hours to\u3c1 \u3eday), and from regional biomass burning (several days). During a High Park Fire episode, light extinction rapidly reached a maximum of σep = 569 ± 21Mm-1 (10 min) with aerosol single scattering albedo peaking at ω= 0.955 ± 0.004. Concurrently, number concentration and size peaked with maximum Dp = 126nm and a unimodal distribution with σg = 1.5. Long-range transported smoke was substantially diluted (Ntot factor of 7 lower) and shifted larger (maximum Dp = 143) and wider (σg = 2.2). We compared ambient data to laboratory burns with representative western U.S. forest fuels (coniferous species Ponderosa pine and Alaska black spruce). Smoldering pine produced an aerosol dominated by larger, more strongly light scattering particles (Dp\u3e100 nm), while flaming combustion produced very high number concentrations of smaller (Dp ~ 50 nm) absorbing particles. Due to smoldering and particle growth processes, Dp approached 100nm within 3 h after emission. Increased particle cross-sectional area and Mie scattering efficiency shifted the relative importance of light absorption (flaming maximum) and light scattering (smoldering maximum), increasing ω over time. Measurements showed a consistent picture of smoke properties from emission to aging