In-situ Balloon Measurements of Small Ice Particles in High-Latitude Cirrus

Abstract:

Thin cirrus clouds at high latitudes are often composed of small ice particles not larger than 100 µm. Cirrus clouds reflect incoming solar radiation, creating a cooling effect. At the same time these clouds absorb the infrared radiation from Earth, creating a greenhouse effect. The net effect, crucial for radiative transfer, depends on the cirrus microphysical properties, such as particle size distributions (PSD) and particle shapes. Knowledge of these cloud properties is also needed for calibrating/validating passive and active remote sensors.

We report on a series of balloon-borne in-situ measurements that is carried out at a high-latitude location, Kiruna in northern Sweden (68N 21E). The measurements target upper tropospheric, cold cirrus clouds. The measurements are ongoing, and the method and first results are presented here. Ice particles in these clouds are predominantly very small, with a median size of measured particles of around 50 µm. Ice particles at these sizes are inherently difficult to measure with aircraft-mounted probes due to issues with resolution, sizing, and size-dependent sampling volume. These probes also suffer from problems with shattering of larger ice particles at the typically high aircraft speeds. The method used here avoids these issues. Furthermore, with a balloon-borne instrument data are collected as vertical profiles, more useful for calibrating or evaluating remote sensing measurements than data collected along horizontal traverses. Particles are collected on an oil-coated film at a sampling speed given directly by the ascending rate of the balloon, 4 m s^-1. The collecting film is advanced uniformly inside the instrument so that an always un-used section of the film is exposed to ice particles, which are measured by imaging shortly after sampling. The high optical resolution of about 4 µm together with a pixel resolution of 1.65 µm allows particle detection at sizes of 10 µm and larger. For particles that are 20 µm (12 pixel) in size or larger the shape can be recognised. The sampling volume is well defined independent of particle size.

Preliminary results of this balloon campaign are presented here. PSDs are studied, as well as particle areas, extinction coefficients, and area ratios. Mass, ice water content, and effective diameters determined from the data are also presented.