Laboratory evidence for volume-dominated nucleation of ice in supercooled water microdroplets

Abstract

We report on measurements of the rate of homogeneous ice nucleation in supercooled water microdroplets levitated in an electrodynamic balance. By comparison of the freezing probability for droplets of radius 49 μm and 19 μm, we are able to conclude that homogeneous freezing is a volume-proportional process and that surface nucleation might only be important, if at all, for much smaller droplets. © European Geosciences Union 2004.