Data from in situ probes and a vertically-pointing ram-wave Doppler radar aboard a research aircraft are used to study the cloud microphysical effect of glaciogenic seeding of cold-season orographic clouds. A previous...Data from in situ probes and a vertically-pointing ram-wave Doppler radar aboard a research aircraft are used to study the cloud microphysical effect of glaciogenic seeding of cold-season orographic clouds. A previous study （Geerts et al., 2010） has shown that radar reflectivity tends to be higher during seeding periods in a shallow layer above the ground downwind of ground-based silver iodide （AgI） nuclei generators. This finding is based on seven flights, conducted over a mountain in Wyoming （the Unites States）, each with a no-seeding period followed by a seeding period. In order to assess this impact, geographically fixed flight tracks were flown over a target mountain, both upwind and downwind of the AgI generators. This paper examines data from the same flights for further evidence of the cloud seeding impact. Com- posite radar data show that the low-level reflectivity increase is best defined upwind of the mountain crest and downwind of the point where the cloud base intersects the terrain. The main argument that this increase can be attributed to AgI seeding is that it is confined to a shallow layer near the ground where the flow is turbulent. Yet during two flights when clouds were cumuliform and coherent updrafts to flight level were recorded by the radar, the seeding impact was evident in the flight-level updrafts （about 610 m above the mountain peak） as a significant increase in the ice crystal appears short-lived as it is not apparent just downwind of concentration in all size bins. The seeding effect the crest.展开更多
基金supported by the WWMPP, which is funded by the State of Wyomingfunded by the National Science Foundation grant AGS-1058426Dr. MIAO Qun is partially sponsored by K.C.Wong Magna Fund in Ningbo University
文摘Data from in situ probes and a vertically-pointing ram-wave Doppler radar aboard a research aircraft are used to study the cloud microphysical effect of glaciogenic seeding of cold-season orographic clouds. A previous study （Geerts et al., 2010） has shown that radar reflectivity tends to be higher during seeding periods in a shallow layer above the ground downwind of ground-based silver iodide （AgI） nuclei generators. This finding is based on seven flights, conducted over a mountain in Wyoming （the Unites States）, each with a no-seeding period followed by a seeding period. In order to assess this impact, geographically fixed flight tracks were flown over a target mountain, both upwind and downwind of the AgI generators. This paper examines data from the same flights for further evidence of the cloud seeding impact. Com- posite radar data show that the low-level reflectivity increase is best defined upwind of the mountain crest and downwind of the point where the cloud base intersects the terrain. The main argument that this increase can be attributed to AgI seeding is that it is confined to a shallow layer near the ground where the flow is turbulent. Yet during two flights when clouds were cumuliform and coherent updrafts to flight level were recorded by the radar, the seeding impact was evident in the flight-level updrafts （about 610 m above the mountain peak） as a significant increase in the ice crystal appears short-lived as it is not apparent just downwind of concentration in all size bins. The seeding effect the crest.
