The measurement and parameterization of ice nucleating particles in different backgrounds of China

Abstract

Investigation of the number concentration of ice nucleating particles (INP) in the deposition nucleation mode during a dust event is reported. The results discussed in this paper are the first continuous INP measurements in Xinjiang, northwest of China, over a period with a strong dust event. The average INP concentration at −20°C and 22% of supersaturation with respect to ice during non-dust days is found around 11 particles per liter, but it reached several hundred per liter in a dust event. A close correlation is also found between the INP number concentration with the number concentration of aerosol particles larger than 0.5μm in diameter measured during a dust event, which means that a higher concentration of larger particles induced higher INP number concentration. Parameterizations were developed based on measurements to represent the variations of INP concentration with temperature, supersaturation, and the number concentration of aerosol particles with size larger than 0.5μm. It should be the first ever, as we have known so far, to measure ice nuclei and aerosol properties simultaneously in a desert area and to contrast INP concentrations in dust and dust-free days, and could advancing our understanding of the effects of dust particles on ice nucleation.