Aircraft observations of the horizontal distribution of chloride particles and their relation to drop-growth processes in clouds

✍ Scribed by F. Singleton; W. G. Durbin

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1962
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 550 KB
• Volume: 88
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0035-9009
• DOI: 10.1002/qj.49708837710

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Seven flights have been made measuring horizontal variations of chloride particles (masses > 10^−13^ g) in the neighbourhood of the British Isles. From these it is concluded that concentrations can vary from about 1,500 l^−1^ in unstable north‐westerly airstreams to 300 l^−1^ in anticyclonic air over the U.K., and 50 l^−1^ over the Continent in air of continental origin. Some evidence is found that concentrations can increase near windward coasts, and can, on occasion, increase with height in the lower levels of the atmosphere.

From a theoretical examination of the droplet spectra at cloud base which, on certain plausible assumptions, would result from the observed chloride particle distributions, it is concluded that these nucleus concentrations could account for the large (> 100 μ diameter) drops commonly found in cumulus and layer clouds over the United Kingdom.