edu.ucar.opensky::articles:6544 UCAR/NCAR - Library OpenSky Support PO Box 3000 Boulder CO 80307-3000 opensky@ucar.edu http://opensky.ucar.edu/ homepage pointOfContact 2025-12-26T15:21:26.568182 ISO 19115-2 Geographic Information - Metadata - Part 2: Extensions for Imagery and Gridded Data ISO 19115-2:2009(E) https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7vd6zpv Timescale analysis of aerosol sensitivity during homogeneous freezing and implications for upper tropospheric water vapor budgets 2008-05-23T00:00:00Z publication https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7vd6zpv https://doi.org/10.1029/2007GL032628 Kay, Jennifer author Wood, R. author UCAR/NCAR - Library publisher Using timescales for the generation and depletion of water vapor, we predict aerosol sensitivity in clouds formed by homogeneous freezing. Our timescale analysis explains why aerosol sensitivity increases dramatically with ice deposition coefficients (α ᵢ) ≪ 0.1, and also why aerosol sensitivity increases as vertical velocity increases, temperature decreases, aerosol number decreases, and aerosol size decreases. We combine existing in-situ observations with adiabatic parcel modeling to constrain α ᵢ ≥ 0.1 for small ice crystals forming at high ice supersaturations. Two important implications for understanding and modeling upper tropospheric water vapor budgets emerge from our results: 1) aerosol sensitivity can be appreciable at low temperatures and moderate updrafts (∼5 cm/s) in the upper tropical troposphere, 2) reconciling our results with recent laboratory measurements supports theory that α ᵢ increases with ice supersaturation and/or decreases with ice crystal size. UCAR/NCAR - Library OpenSky Support PO Box 3000 Boulder CO 80307-3000 opensky@ucar.edu http://opensky.ucar.edu/ homepage pointOfContact PDF Text theme Resource Type 2016-01-01T00:00:00Z publication An edited version of this paper was published by AGU. Copyright 2008 American Geophysical Union. None eng geoscientificInformation