Collaborative Research: A Novel Laboratory Approach for Exploring Contact Ice Nucleation

This project seeks to increase fundamental understanding of the physical mechanisms that drive heterogeneous ice nucleation in the atmosphere, with a particular focus on contact nucleation. Contact nucleation, that occurs after an ice nucleating particle (INP) and a droplet collide, is arguably the least understood mechanism for nucleating ice. Numerical models that incorporate improved mechanisms that represent ice nucleation may lead to more accurate daily weather forecasts and predictions of climate change. This research will address the following science questions: (1) Can methods be established to measure contact ice nucleation reliably? (2) In the contact nucleation process, is it the INP position at a droplet's surface or the collision that is important? (3) What types of aerosols are the most effective INPs? Are they the same in immersion and contact mode nucleation? (4) Does potential INP size matter and can measurement on a substrate represent free-floating droplets? The project will support a postdoc and both graduate and ungraduated students, as well as the development of educational games that focus on atmospheric science for younger students. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.