KIT | KIT-Bibliothek | Impressum | Datenschutz

The microphysical formation process of Noctilucent Clouds

Nachbar, Mario; Duft, Denis ORCID iD icon; Leisner, Thomas ORCID iD icon

Abstract (englisch):

Ablated meteoric material condensates in the upper atmosphere to nanometer sized meteoric smoke particles (MSPs). These particles are believed to serve as nuclei for the formation of so called NoctiLucent Clouds (NLCs) which appear in the polar summer mesopause. However, describing the formation process of these clouds comes hand in hand with large uncertainties mainly due to a lack of experimental data on their microphysical formation process. We produce single charged nanometer sized (1-3 nm) MSP analogues and expose them to realistic mesopause conditions in terms of background pressure, temperature, radiation and water vapor concentration. A time of flight mass spectrometer allows us to observe adsorption and deposition of water vapor subsequent to nucleation as a function of temperature and saturation. This contribution will introduce the nucleation formalisms used to describe the formation of NLCs and will compare these to the latest experimental results of water vapor nucleation on different MSP analogues. Measurements of the adsorption process of water vapor on the pure MSP particles as well as critical saturations as function of particle size and background temperature will be presented. ... mehr


Zugehörige Institution(en) am KIT Institut für Meteorologie und Klimaforschung Atmosphärische Aerosolforschung (IMKAAF)
KIT-Zentrum Klima und Umwelt (ZKU)
Publikationstyp Vortrag
Publikationsdatum 17.03.2017
Sprache Englisch
Identifikator KITopen-ID: 1000076430
HGF-Programm 12.04.02 (POF III, LK 01) Cirrus Clouds
Veranstaltung 81. Jahrestagung der DPG und DPG-Frühjahrstagung, Bremen, 27.-31. März 2017
KIT – Die Forschungsuniversität in der Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft
KITopen Landing Page