Effect of cloud-scale vertical velocity on the contribution of homogeneous nucleation to cirrus formation and radiative forcing

Abstract

Ice nucleation is a critical process for the ice crystal formation in cirrus clouds. The relative contribution of homogeneous nucleation versus heterogeneous nucleation to cirrus formation differs between measurements and predictions from general circulation models. Here we perform large-ensemble simulations of the ice nucleation process using a cloud parcel model driven by observed vertical motions and find that homogeneous nucleation occurs rather infrequently, in agreement with recent measurement findings. When the effect of observed vertical velocity fluctuations on ice nucleation is considered in the Community Atmosphere Model version 5, the relative contribution of homogeneous nucleation to cirrus cloud occurrences decreases to only a few percent. However, homogeneous nucleation still has strong impacts on the cloud radiative forcing. Hence, the importance of homogeneous nucleation for cirrus cloud formation should not be dismissed on the global scale.