Advances in Earth Science ›› 2015, Vol. 30 ›› Issue (3): 323-333. doi: 10.11867/j.issn.1001-8166.2015.03.0323

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A Study of the Effects of Ice Nuclei on Cloud Microphysical Properties and Precipitation

Jinfang Yin 1( ), Donghai Wang 1, Huangbin Xu 2, Guoqing Zhai 3, Xiaoling Jiang 1   

  1. 1. State Key Laboratory of Severe Weather, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
    2. Beijing Institute of Applied Meteorology, Beijing 100081
    3. Department of Earth Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
  • Online:2015-04-08 Published:2015-03-20

Jinfang Yin, Donghai Wang, Huangbin Xu, Guoqing Zhai, Xiaoling Jiang. A Study of the Effects of Ice Nuclei on Cloud Microphysical Properties and Precipitation[J]. Advances in Earth Science, 2015, 30(3): 323-333.

An overview of the progresses in the effects of Ice Nuclei (IN) on cloud microphysical properties and precipitation was made in this study. Detailed analysis of the effects of IN on cloud macro- and micro-physical characteristics, convective system, lighting, precipitation intensity and amount was accomplished, and explanations were proposed for those effects in view of the cloud microphysical processes of IN related. The results show that: ①in general, increasing IN leads to the increasing of ice crystal number concentration, reducing of cloud droplet number concentration, and extending of cloud lifetime; ②increase in IN concentration in developing convective cloud causes early release of latent heat at sub-cooling region at middle level cloud faction, which enhances instability energy in middle level clouds and thus promotes the development of convective system; ③the ratio of ice water content and liquid water content is altered and the homogeneous freezing process is reduced or suppressed due to increasing IN concentration in cirrus cloud, but has a significant contribution to the mean ice crystal size; ④as IN concentration increases, the earth-atmosphere system net radiative forcing increases; ⑤both lightning frequency and intensity can be modified by altering IN concentration in cloud; and ⑥the effect of increaing IN concentration on rainfall amount is indefinite, that is, increasing IN concentration can lead to increase, decrease, little change of the total amount of rainfall.

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