Identifying the seeding signature in cloud particles from hydrometeor residuals

Abstract. Cloud seeding experiments for modifying cloud and precipitation have been underway for nearly a century; yet practically all the attempts to link precipitation enhancement or suppression to the presence of seeding materials remained inclusive. In 2019, the Cloud-Aerosol Interaction and Precipitation Enhancement Experiment (CAIPEEX) implemented a novel method to detect seeded clouds during its operations in Solapur, India. In this experiment, residuals of cloud hydrometeors in seeded and non-seeded clouds were analyzed with an airborne mini-Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (mAMS). The mAMS instrument was utilized in conjunction with a counterflow virtual impactor (CVI) inlet, which had a cutoff diameter size of approximately 7 µm. Upon traversing the CVI inlet, the cloud droplets underwent a drying process, enabling the subsequent examination of cloud residuals through the mAMS instrument to identify potential seeding signatures. The Chlorine (Cl) associated with hygroscopic materials, i.e., Calcium Chloride (CaCl₂) and potassium (K), which serve as the oxidizing agents in the flares, is found in relatively higher concentrations in the seeded clouds compared to the non-seeded clouds. After seeding, small-size cloud droplet concentrations increased in the convective and stratus clouds. In the convective clouds, flare particles propagated to higher cloud depths (≈ 2.25 km, vertical distance from cloud base) and modulate cloud microphysical properties to initiate warm rain. This new technique help to trace activated flare particles in seeded clouds and identify the post-seeding chain of cloud microphysical processes.