Activation and growth of aerosol particles at atmospheric super-saturations:results from the leipzig aerosol cloud interaction simulator (LACIS)

摘要

Clouds play an essential role in the earth's climate.They influence the earth's radiation budget and hydrological cycle.The formation of clouds depends on the abundance and the chemical composition of aerosol particles,acting as cloud condensation nuclei and the ambient relative humidity.Cloud optical properties and the formation of precipitation depend on the size distribution of the droplets in the cloud,which is ruled by the growth of the activated aerosol particles.Besides field observations of atmospheric clouds,which are difficult to perform,a number of laboratory devices and numerical models exist to simulate clouds.One recently developed laboratory device is the Leipzig Aerosol Cloud Interaction Simulator (LACIS).LACIS was built as a laminar flow tube to study the formation and growth of cloud droplets under near atmospheric super-saturations and time scales.