Articles | Volume 14, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-269-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-269-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
14 Jan 2021
Research article |
| 14 Jan 2021
| 14 Jan 2021
Continuous online monitoring of ice-nucleating particles: development of the automated Horizontal Ice Nucleation Chamber (HINC-Auto)
Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, ETH, Zurich, Switzerland
Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, ETH, Zurich, Switzerland
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Cyril Brunner, Benjamin T. Brem, Martine Collaud Coen, Franz Conen, Martin Steinbacher, Martin Gysel-Beer, and Zamin A. Kanji
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 7557–7573, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-7557-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-7557-2022, 2022
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Microscopic particles called ice-nucleating particles (INPs) are essential for ice crystals to form in clouds. INPs are a tiny proportion of atmospheric aerosol, and their abundance is poorly constrained. We study how the concentration of INPs changes diurnally and seasonally at a mountaintop station in central Europe. Unsurprisingly, a diurnal cycle is only found when considering air masses that have had lower-altitude ground contact. The highest INP concentrations occur in spring.
Jörg Wieder, Claudia Mignani, Mario Schär, Lucie Roth, Michael Sprenger, Jan Henneberger, Ulrike Lohmann, Cyril Brunner, and Zamin A. Kanji
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We investigate the variation in ice-nucleating particles (INPs) relevant for primary ice formation in mixed-phased clouds over the Alps based on simultaneous in situ observations at a mountaintop and a nearby high valley (1060 m height difference). In most cases, advection from the surrounding lower regions was responsible for changes in INP concentration, causing a diurnal cycle at the mountaintop. Our study underlines the importance of the planetary boundary layer as an INP reserve.
Cyril Brunner, Benjamin T. Brem, Martine Collaud Coen, Franz Conen, Maxime Hervo, Stephan Henne, Martin Steinbacher, Martin Gysel-Beer, and Zamin A. Kanji
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 18029–18053, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-18029-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-18029-2021, 2021
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Special microscopic particles called ice-nucleating particles (INPs) are essential for ice crystals to form in the atmosphere. INPs are sparse and their atmospheric concentration and properties are not well understood. Mineral dust particles make up a significant fraction of INPs but how much remains unknown. Here, we address this knowledge gap by studying periods when mineral particles are present in large quantities at a mountaintop station in central Europe.
Mattia Righi, Baptiste Testa, Christof G. Beer, Johannes Hendricks, and Zamin A. Kanji
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In the atmosphere, minerals suspended in cloud droplets promote the formation of ice. We investigated ice formation in the presence of pure and binary mixtures of common minerals using a microfluidic device. The mineral with the best ability to initiate ice formation alone (that is, at the highest temperature) typically determined when ice formed in the binary mixture.
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Anna J. Miller, Christopher Fuchs, Fabiola Ramelli, Huiying Zhang, Nadja Omanovic, Robert Spirig, Claudia Marcolli, Zamin A. Kanji, Ulrike Lohmann, and Jan Henneberger
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 5387–5407, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5387-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5387-2025, 2025
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Mayur Gajanan Sapkal, Michael Rösch, and Zamin A. Kanji
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2239, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2239, 2025
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Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 10409–10424, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10409-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10409-2024, 2024
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Aviation soot residuals released from contrails can become compacted upon sublimation of the ice crystals, generating new voids in the aggregates where ice nucleation can occur. Here we show that contrail-processed soot is highly compact but that it remains unable to form ice at a relative humidity different from that required for the formation of background cirrus from the more ubiquitous aqueous solution droplets, suggesting that it will not perturb cirrus cloud formation via ice nucleation.
Baptiste Testa, Lukas Durdina, Peter A. Alpert, Fabian Mahrt, Christopher H. Dreimol, Jacinta Edebeli, Curdin Spirig, Zachary C. J. Decker, Julien Anet, and Zamin A. Kanji
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 4537–4567, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4537-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4537-2024, 2024
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Laboratory experiments on the ice nucleation of real commercial aviation soot particles are investigated for their cirrus cloud formation potential. Our results show that aircraft-emitted soot in the upper troposphere will be poor ice-nucleating particles. Measuring the soot particle morphology and modifying their mixing state allow us to elucidate why these particles are ineffective at forming ice, in contrast to previously used soot surrogates.
Anna J. Miller, Fabiola Ramelli, Christopher Fuchs, Nadja Omanovic, Robert Spirig, Huiying Zhang, Ulrike Lohmann, Zamin A. Kanji, and Jan Henneberger
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Dimitri Castarède, Zoé Brasseur, Yusheng Wu, Zamin A. Kanji, Markus Hartmann, Lauri Ahonen, Merete Bilde, Markku Kulmala, Tuukka Petäjä, Jan B. C. Pettersson, Berko Sierau, Olaf Stetzer, Frank Stratmann, Birgitta Svenningsson, Erik Swietlicki, Quynh Thu Nguyen, Jonathan Duplissy, and Erik S. Thomson
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Clouds play a key role in Earth’s climate by influencing the surface energy budget. Certain types of atmospheric aerosols, called ice-nucleating particles (INPs), induce the formation of ice in clouds and, thus, often initiate precipitation formation. The Portable Ice Nucleation Chamber 2 (PINCii) is a new instrument developed to study ice formation and to conduct ambient measurements of INPs, allowing us to investigate the sources and properties of the atmospheric aerosols that can act as INPs.
Fabian Mahrt, Carolin Rösch, Kunfeng Gao, Christopher H. Dreimol, Maria A. Zawadowicz, and Zamin A. Kanji
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 1285–1308, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1285-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1285-2023, 2023
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Major aerosol types emitted by biomass burning include soot, ash, and charcoal particles. Here, we investigated the ice nucleation activity of 400 nm size-selected particles of two different pyrolyis-derived charcoal types in the mixed phase and cirrus cloud regime. We find that ice nucleation is constrained to cirrus cloud conditions, takes place via pore condensation and freezing, and is largely governed by the particle porosity and mineral content.
Guangyu Li, Jörg Wieder, Julie T. Pasquier, Jan Henneberger, and Zamin A. Kanji
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 14441–14454, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-14441-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-14441-2022, 2022
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The concentration of ice-nucleating particles (INPs) is atmospherically relevant for primary ice formation in clouds. In this work, from 12 weeks of field measurement data in the Arctic, we developed a new parameterization to predict INP concentrations applicable for pristine background conditions based only on temperature. The INP parameterization could improve the cloud microphysical representation in climate models, aiding in Arctic climate predictions.
Florin N. Isenrich, Nadia Shardt, Michael Rösch, Julia Nette, Stavros Stavrakis, Claudia Marcolli, Zamin A. Kanji, Andrew J. deMello, and Ulrike Lohmann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 5367–5381, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-5367-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-5367-2022, 2022
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Ice nucleation in the atmosphere influences cloud properties and lifetimes. Microfluidic instruments have recently been used to investigate ice nucleation, but these instruments are typically made out of a polymer that contributes to droplet instability over extended timescales and relatively high temperature uncertainty. To address these drawbacks, we develop and validate a new microfluidic instrument that uses fluoropolymer tubing to extend droplet stability and improve temperature accuracy.
Jörg Wieder, Nikola Ihn, Claudia Mignani, Moritz Haarig, Johannes Bühl, Patric Seifert, Ronny Engelmann, Fabiola Ramelli, Zamin A. Kanji, Ulrike Lohmann, and Jan Henneberger
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 9767–9797, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9767-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9767-2022, 2022
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Ice formation and its evolution in mixed-phase clouds are still uncertain. We evaluate the lidar retrieval of ice-nucleating particle concentration in dust-dominated and continental air masses over the Swiss Alps with in situ observations. A calibration factor to improve the retrieval from continental air masses is proposed. Ice multiplication factors are obtained with a new method utilizing remote sensing. Our results indicate that secondary ice production occurs at temperatures down to −30 °C.
Cyril Brunner, Benjamin T. Brem, Martine Collaud Coen, Franz Conen, Martin Steinbacher, Martin Gysel-Beer, and Zamin A. Kanji
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 7557–7573, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-7557-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-7557-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Microscopic particles called ice-nucleating particles (INPs) are essential for ice crystals to form in clouds. INPs are a tiny proportion of atmospheric aerosol, and their abundance is poorly constrained. We study how the concentration of INPs changes diurnally and seasonally at a mountaintop station in central Europe. Unsurprisingly, a diurnal cycle is only found when considering air masses that have had lower-altitude ground contact. The highest INP concentrations occur in spring.
Cuiqi Zhang, Zhijun Wu, Jingchuan Chen, Jie Chen, Lizi Tang, Wenfei Zhu, Xiangyu Pei, Shiyi Chen, Ping Tian, Song Guo, Limin Zeng, Min Hu, and Zamin A. Kanji
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 7539–7556, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-7539-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-7539-2022, 2022
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The immersion ice nucleation effectiveness of aerosols from multiple sources in the urban environment remains elusive. In this study, we demonstrate that the immersion ice-nucleating particle (INP) concentration increased dramatically during a dust event in an urban atmosphere. Pollutant aerosols, including inorganic salts formed through secondary transformation (SIA) and black carbon (BC), might not act as effective INPs under mixed-phase cloud conditions.
Kunfeng Gao, Chong-Wen Zhou, Eszter J. Barthazy Meier, and Zamin A. Kanji
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 5331–5364, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5331-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5331-2022, 2022
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Incomplete combustion of fossil fuel produces carbonaceous particles called soot. These particles can affect cloud formation by acting as centres for droplet or ice formation. The atmospheric residence time of soot particles is of the order of days to weeks, which can result in them becoming coated by various trace species in the atmosphere such as acids. In this study, we quantify the cirrus cloud-forming ability of soot particles coated with the atmospherically ubiquitous sulfuric acid.
Zoé Brasseur, Dimitri Castarède, Erik S. Thomson, Michael P. Adams, Saskia Drossaart van Dusseldorp, Paavo Heikkilä, Kimmo Korhonen, Janne Lampilahti, Mikhail Paramonov, Julia Schneider, Franziska Vogel, Yusheng Wu, Jonathan P. D. Abbatt, Nina S. Atanasova, Dennis H. Bamford, Barbara Bertozzi, Matthew Boyer, David Brus, Martin I. Daily, Romy Fösig, Ellen Gute, Alexander D. Harrison, Paula Hietala, Kristina Höhler, Zamin A. Kanji, Jorma Keskinen, Larissa Lacher, Markus Lampimäki, Janne Levula, Antti Manninen, Jens Nadolny, Maija Peltola, Grace C. E. Porter, Pyry Poutanen, Ulrike Proske, Tobias Schorr, Nsikanabasi Silas Umo, János Stenszky, Annele Virtanen, Dmitri Moisseev, Markku Kulmala, Benjamin J. Murray, Tuukka Petäjä, Ottmar Möhler, and Jonathan Duplissy
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 5117–5145, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5117-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5117-2022, 2022
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The present measurement report introduces the ice nucleation campaign organized in Hyytiälä, Finland, in 2018 (HyICE-2018). We provide an overview of the campaign settings, and we describe the measurement infrastructure and operating procedures used. In addition, we use results from ice nucleation instrument inter-comparison to show that the suite of these instruments deployed during the campaign reports consistent results.
Kunfeng Gao, Franz Friebel, Chong-Wen Zhou, and Zamin A. Kanji
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 4985–5016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-4985-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-4985-2022, 2022
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Soot particles impact cloud formation and radiative properties in the upper atmosphere where aircraft emit carbonaceous particles. We use cloud chambers to mimic the upper atmosphere temperature and humidity to test the influence of the morphology of the soot particles on ice cloud formation. For particles larger than 200 nm, the compacted (densified) samples have a higher affinity for ice crystal formation in the cirrus regime than the fluffy (un-compacted) soot particles of the same sample.
Jörg Wieder, Claudia Mignani, Mario Schär, Lucie Roth, Michael Sprenger, Jan Henneberger, Ulrike Lohmann, Cyril Brunner, and Zamin A. Kanji
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 3111–3130, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3111-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3111-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We investigate the variation in ice-nucleating particles (INPs) relevant for primary ice formation in mixed-phased clouds over the Alps based on simultaneous in situ observations at a mountaintop and a nearby high valley (1060 m height difference). In most cases, advection from the surrounding lower regions was responsible for changes in INP concentration, causing a diurnal cycle at the mountaintop. Our study underlines the importance of the planetary boundary layer as an INP reserve.
Cyril Brunner, Benjamin T. Brem, Martine Collaud Coen, Franz Conen, Maxime Hervo, Stephan Henne, Martin Steinbacher, Martin Gysel-Beer, and Zamin A. Kanji
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 18029–18053, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-18029-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-18029-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Special microscopic particles called ice-nucleating particles (INPs) are essential for ice crystals to form in the atmosphere. INPs are sparse and their atmospheric concentration and properties are not well understood. Mineral dust particles make up a significant fraction of INPs but how much remains unknown. Here, we address this knowledge gap by studying periods when mineral particles are present in large quantities at a mountaintop station in central Europe.
Larissa Lacher, Hans-Christian Clemen, Xiaoli Shen, Stephan Mertes, Martin Gysel-Beer, Alireza Moallemi, Martin Steinbacher, Stephan Henne, Harald Saathoff, Ottmar Möhler, Kristina Höhler, Thea Schiebel, Daniel Weber, Jann Schrod, Johannes Schneider, and Zamin A. Kanji
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 16925–16953, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16925-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16925-2021, 2021
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We investigate ice-nucleating particle properties at Jungfraujoch during the 2017 joint INUIT/CLACE field campaign, to improve the knowledge about those rare particles in a cloud-relevant environment. By quantifying ice-nucleating particles in parallel to single-particle mass spectrometry measurements, we find that mineral dust and aged sea spray particles are potential candidates for ice-nucleating particles. Our findings are supported by ice residual analysis and source region modeling.
Paraskevi Georgakaki, Aikaterini Bougiatioti, Jörg Wieder, Claudia Mignani, Fabiola Ramelli, Zamin A. Kanji, Jan Henneberger, Maxime Hervo, Alexis Berne, Ulrike Lohmann, and Athanasios Nenes
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 10993–11012, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-10993-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-10993-2021, 2021
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Aerosol and cloud observations coupled with a droplet activation parameterization was used to investigate the aerosol–cloud droplet link in alpine mixed-phase clouds. Predicted droplet number, Nd, agrees with observations and never exceeds a characteristic “limiting droplet number”, Ndlim, which depends solely on σw. Nd becomes velocity limited when it is within 50 % of Ndlim. Identifying when dynamical changes control Nd variability is central for understanding aerosol–cloud interactions.
Claudia Mignani, Jörg Wieder, Michael A. Sprenger, Zamin A. Kanji, Jan Henneberger, Christine Alewell, and Franz Conen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 657–664, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-657-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-657-2021, 2021
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Most precipitation above land starts with ice in clouds. It is promoted by extremely rare particles. Some ice-nucleating particles (INPs) cause cloud droplets to already freeze above −15°C, a temperature at which many clouds begin to snow. We found that the abundance of such INPs among other particles of similar size is highest in precipitating air masses and lowest when air carries desert dust. This brings us closer to understanding the interactions between land, clouds, and precipitation.
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Short summary
Subvisual microscopic particles in the atmosphere are needed to act as seeds for cloud droplets or ice crystals to form. The microscopic particles, called ice-nucleating particles (INPs), form ice crystals and are rare, and their properties are not well understood, in part because measuring them is challenging and time consuming, and to date has not been automated. Here, we present the first online instrument that can continuously and autonomously measure INP concentration at 243 K.
Subvisual microscopic particles in the atmosphere are needed to act as seeds for cloud droplets...
