Cloud Condensation Nuclei (CCN) and Large Nuclei in Rain In Cumulus over the Ocean (RICO)

该项目的目标是测量吸入信风积云的空气中的云凝结核（CCN），并使用这些测量结果来考虑CCN人口如何影响这些云中的降雨发展。仪器的新功能将允许测量扩展到低过饱和度（大颗粒尺寸），这是一个重要的扩展，因为这些颗粒被认为是重要的暖雨启动。还将通过不同的仪器进行测量，为在CCN上形成的液滴提供不同的生长时间，以研究仪器中可用的有限生长时间是否会使测量产生偏差。研究人员还将研究偶尔的撒哈拉沙尘事件在加速降雨形成中的可能作用。该项目是“海洋上空积云中的雨”（RICO）实验的一部分，该实验是一项关于暖雨形成和信风积云性质的多研究者研究。CCN测量是更广泛实验的关键组成部分，因为作为确定初始液滴尺寸分布的关键输入，许多其他研究人员在研究有关暖雨过程的特定假设时需要它们。该项目的其他广泛影响包括可能解决影响许多其他微物理研究的仪器争议，更好地了解雨的形成，因为它影响天气和气候，以及研究生在这一研究领域的培训。

The goals of this project are to measure cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) in air ingested into trade wind Cumulus clouds and use those measurements to consider how the CCN population influences the development of rain in those clouds. New features of the instrumentation will allow the measurements to extend to low supersaturation (large particle size), an important extension because such particles are thought to be important in warm-rain initiation. The measurements will also be made by different instruments providing different growth times for the droplets that form on the CCN to investigate if the limited growth time available in the instrument biases the measurements. The investigators will also study the possible role of occasional Saharan-dust episodes in accelerating rain formation. The project is part of the "Rain in Cumulus over the Ocean" (RICO) experiment, a multi-investigator study of warm rain formation and the nature of trade wind Cumulus clouds. The CCN measurements are a critical component of the broader experiment because, as the key input determining the initial droplet size distribution, they are needed by many of the other investigators in their studies of specific hypotheses regarding the warm-rain process. Other broad impacts of the project include likely resolution of an instrumentation controversy affecting many other microphysical studies, better understanding of rain formation as it influences weather and climate, and graduate student training in this area of research.