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Science 24 July 1992:
Vol. 257. no. 5069, pp. 516 - 519
DOI: 10.1126/science.257.5069.516
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Articles

Evidence for Liquid-Phase Cirrus Cloud Formation from Volcanic Aerosols: Climatic Implications

Kenneth Sassen 1

1 Department of Meteorology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112

Supercooled droplets in cirrus uncinus cell heads between -40° and -50°C are identified from Project FIRE [First ISCCP (International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project) Regional Experiment] polarization lidar measurements. Although short-lived, complexes of these small liquid cells seem to have contributed importantly to the formation of the cirrus. Freezing-point depression effects in solution droplets, apparently resulting from relatively large cloud condensation nuclei of volcanic origin, can be used to explain this rare phenomenon. An unrecognized volcano-cirrus cloud climate feedback mechanism is implied by these findings.

Submitted on March 17, 1992
Accepted on June 1, 1992


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