Cited by 5Atmospheric aerosols and cloudsMeteorological Phenomena and Simulationsnanoparticles nucleation surface interactions

Quantifying ice crystal growth rates in natural clouds from glaciogenic cloud seeding experiments

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Fuchs, Christopher, Ramelli, Fabiola, Miller, Anna J., Omanovic, Nadja, Spirig, Robert, Zhang, Huiying, Seifert, Patric, Ohneiser, Kevin +2 more·2025·Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics

Published version of a preprint

Abstract

Ice crystals are essential in the evolution of mixed-phase clouds, as ice crystals can quickly grow to large sizes by vapor diffusion and thereby trigger precipitation formation. Vapor diffusional growth rates of ice crystals were quantitatively studied in the laboratory for several decades, forming the basis of various ice crystal growth models. Since field measurements generally only provide snapshots that lack information on ice crystal age or changes induced by cloud processes, significant gaps remain in quantitative field observations, impeding the validation of laboratory experiments and models. Our study addresses this gap through innovative glaciogenic cloud seeding experiments in persistent low-level stratus clouds in the CLOUDLAB project. The controllability and repeatability of our seeding experiments facilitates the quantification of diffusional ice crystal growth rates in natural clouds via in situ measurements. We report growth rates of 0.17–0.81 µm s −1 (major axis of pristine ice crystals) from 14 seeding experiments between −5.1 and −8.3 °C. We also observe how microphysical characteristics induce strong variations in the growth rates, e.g., reduced growth rates in seeding-induced regions of high ice crystal number concentrations. For better comparison to laboratory and non-seeded clouds, we developed two filtering methods to isolate growth conditions less affected by the experimental setup. The comparison shows that the temperature-dependent growth rate variations align with laboratory data, whereas absolute laboratory values are higher. Our findings provide valuable insights into the vapor diffusional growth of ice crystals in natural clouds and connect in situ observations with laboratory and modeling studies.

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Registry

Crossref · 10.5194/acp-25-12177-2025

Cites

47 of 47 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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  • The CLOUDLAB project has performed the only field experiments to date explicitly designed to resolve uncertainties in ice crystal growth dynamics and validate glaciogenic seeding efficacy in low-level mixed-phase clouds.

    “The CLOUDLAB project has performed the only field experiments to date explicitly designed to resolve uncertainties in ice crystal growth dynamics and validate glaciogenic seeding efficacy in low-level mixed-phase clouds (Fuchs et al., 2025; Henneberger et al., 2023)”

    From Past Field Experiments of Solar Radiation Modification: A Review of the Scientific and Technical Aspects for Governance (2026) · cites this paper as Fuchs et al., 2025

    The Introduction describes CLOUDLAB’s controlled glaciogenic seeding experiments in low stratus clouds as a way to quantify ice crystal growth rates. It does not say these were the only such field experiments to date or that they were designed to validate seeding efficacy; it says the findings may help improve seeding operations. (LLM, conf=0.87)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • The CLOUDLAB project bridges field experiments, measurements, laboratory studies, and theoretical models to advance understanding of mixed-phase cloud processes.

    “The CLOUDLAB project bridges field experiments, measurements, laboratory studies, and theoretical models to advance understanding of mixed-phase cloud processes (Fuchs et al., 2025)”

    From Past Field Experiments of Solar Radiation Modification: A Review of the Scientific and Technical Aspects for Governance (2026) · cites this paper as Fuchs et al., 2025

    The Introduction and Data and methods sections describe CLOUDLAB field experiments and in situ measurements, while the Conclusions compare those measurements with laboratory results. The Introduction says field observations are needed to validate theoretical results, but the paper does not establish that CLOUDLAB integrates theoretical models into this work or document the project-wide combination of all four activities. (LLM, conf=0.82)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • For HOLIMO, limitations included a detection threshold (>25 μm) that undersampled smaller crystals, ICNC uncertainties (±5%-15%) from hologram artifacts, and sampling biases from excluding rimed/aggregated ice crystals during manual classification.

    “For HOLIMO, limitations included a detection threshold ( > 25 μm) that undersampled smaller crystals, ICNC uncertainties ( ± 5%-15%) from hologram artifacts, and sampling biases from excluding rimed/ aggregated ice crystals during manual classification.”

    From Past Field Experiments of Solar Radiation Modification: A Review of the Scientific and Technical Aspects for Governance (2026) · cites this paper as Fuchs et al., 2025

    Split into 3 atoms — 2 confirmed, 1 partially supported, 0 disputed, 0 misattributed, 0 unverifiable. Expand the claim to see per-atom verdicts.

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  • One CLOUDLAB UAV released AgI flares produced ~20 g of INPs active below -5°C and generated detectable plumes for 5-6 min.

    “One UAV released AgI flares produced ∼ 20 g of INPs active below -5 ◦ C (Y. Chen et al., 2024; Fuchs et al., 2025) and generated detectable plumes for 5-6 min (Henneberger et al., 2023)”

    From Past Field Experiments of Solar Radiation Modification: A Review of the Scientific and Technical Aspects for Governance (2026) · cites this paper as Fuchs et al., 2025

    Section 2.1 says the UAV flare contains about 20 g of AgI, along with other compounds that are ice-active below −5 °C. It does not establish that the flare produces 20 g of ice-nucleating particles; the paper says the composition of the particles after combustion is poorly characterized. The 5–6-minute plume statement is cited to Henneberger et al., not Fuchs et al., in the citing sentence. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • HOLIMO observations on the TBS showed plume dissipation within 5-12 min, consistent with natural aerosol residence times in mixed-phase clouds.

    “HOLIMO observations on the TBS showed plume dissipation within 5-12 min, consistent with natural aerosol residence times in mixed-phase clouds (Fuchs et al., 2025)”

    From Past Field Experiments of Solar Radiation Modification: A Review of the Scientific and Technical Aspects for Governance (2026) · cites this paper as Fuchs et al., 2025

    Section 2.2 describes HOLIMO on a tethered balloon system observing conditions before and after a seeding plume passed. Sections 2.4–2.4.1 estimate the time from ice-crystal nucleation to observation, not the time for a plume to dissipate. Our copy does not support the 5–12 min dissipation figure or the comparison with natural aerosol residence times in mixed-phase clouds. (LLM, conf=0.83)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

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Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

3 of the 50 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 5

  1. Beck, A.: Observing the Microstructure of Orographic Clouds with HoloGondel, Doctoral Thesis, ETH Zurich, https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000250847, 2017. · DOI
  2. Bergeron, T.: On the Physics of Clouds and Precipitation, Proc. Fifth Assembly of the Int. Union of Geodesy and Geophysics Lisbon, 156-180, 1935.
  3. Ryan, B. F., Wishart, E. R., and Holroyd, E. W.: The Densi- ties and Growth Rates of Ice Crystals between -5C and -9C, J. Atmos. Sci., 31, 2136-2141, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520- 0469(1974)031<2136:TDAGRO>2.0.CO;2, 1974. · DOI
  4. Song, N. and Lamb, D.: Experimental Investigations of Ice in Supercooled Clouds. Part 1: System Descrip- tion and Growth of Ice by Vapor Deposition, J. At- mos. Sci., 51, 91-103, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520- 0469(1994)051<0091:EIOIIS>2.0.CO;2, 1994. · DOI
  5. Wang, P. K. and Ji, W.: Collision Efficiencies of Ice Crys- tals at Low-Intermediate Reynolds Numbers Colliding with Supercooled Cloud Droplets: A Numerical Study, J. Atmos. Sci., 57, 1001-1009, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520- 0469(2000)057<1001:CEOICA>2.0.CO;2, 2000. · DOI

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Authors
Fuchs, C., Ramelli, F., Miller, A. J., Omanovic, N., Spirig, R., Zhang, H., Seifert, P., Ohneiser, K., Lohmann, U., & Henneberger, J.
Affiliations
  • ETH Zurich (CH)
  • Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (DE)
Corresponding author
  • Fuchs, Christopher
  • Henneberger, Jan
Venue
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
Published
2025-10-07
Volume
25
Issue
19
Pages
12177-12196
ISSN
  • 1680-7316 (ISSN-L)
  • 1680-7324
OpenAlex
W4414914033
Cited by
4
References
50
Citations by year
2026: 4
FWCI
1.64
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Atmospheric chemistry and physics (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
HORIZON EUROPE European Research Council (101021272 CLOUDLAB)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Atmospheric aerosols and clouds
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Atmospheric Science › Meteorological Phenomena and Simulations
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Atmospheric Science › nanoparticles nucleation surface interactions
Keywords
mixed-phase clouds, stratus clouds, CLOUDLAB, ice crystal microphysics, ice crystal number concentration, temperature dependence of growth, in situ cloud measurements

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