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Full-Text Articles in Physics
The Variability Of The Saturation Ratio In Clouds, Jesse C. Anderson
The Variability Of The Saturation Ratio In Clouds, Jesse C. Anderson
Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports
The saturation ratio determines the growth of cloud droplets by condensation and activation of aerosol particles. In a uniform environment, the interactions between the saturation ratio and cloud droplets are well understood. However, the presence of turbulent mixing causes spatial and temporal variability in the temperature, water vapor and the saturation ratio. When applied to a cloud, the variability in S has been shown to broaden the cloud droplet size distribution through each droplet having its own growth rate and history. When droplets grow by condensation or evaporation, water vapor and heat feedback with the environment, altering the distribution of …
Simple Approximations For Condensational Growth, A. B. Kostinski
Simple Approximations For Condensational Growth, A. B. Kostinski
Department of Physics Publications
A simple geometric argument relating to the liquid water content of clouds is given. The phase relaxation time and the nature of the quasi-steady approximation for the diffusional growth of cloud drops are elucidated directly in terms of water vapor concentration. Spatial gradients of vapor concentration, inherent in the notion of quasi-steady growth, are discussed and we argue for an occasional reversal of the traditional point of view: rather than a drop growing in response to a given supersaturation, the observed values of the supersaturation in clouds are the result of a vapor field adjusting to droplet growth. Our perspective …