Abstract
Ice supersaturation is a frequent phenomenon in cold (below 0 °C) regions of the atmosphere. Ice-supersaturated regions are regions where cirrus clouds can form and where condensation trails are long lasting (up to many hours). This article provides an introduction to the topic of ice supersaturation in the atmosphere. It gives answers to the following questions: What is relative humidity? What is the origin of ice supersaturation? Since when does one know about ice supersaturation in the atmosphere? Where does one find ice supersaturation in the atmosphere and how often? What are the properties of ice supersaturated regions? How important is ice supersaturation for the atmosphere, for the weather and for climate? And finally: Which are the highest values of ice supersaturation in the atmosphere?
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
“Aus diesen Zahlen geht zur Evidenz hervor, dass zur kältesten Jahreszeit, nämlich in den Monaten November bis März, im Durchschnitt die Luft in Bezug auf Eis erheblich übersättigt ist”(Wegener 1914).
- 2.
Measurement of Ozone and Water Vapour by Airbus In-Service Aircraft, a European project.
- 3.
Since liquid saturation within a supercooled water cloud implies ice supersaturation, ice crystals that get into such a cloud experience strong growth at the expense of the liquid droplets that start to evaporate as soon as the relative humidity gets below water saturation (i.e., a situation with ice super-, but liquid sub-saturation).
- 4.
DWD: Deutscher Wetterdienst, Germany’s national weather service.
References
Dickson, N. C., Gierens, K. M., Rogers, H. L., Jones, R. L.: Vertical spatial scales of ice supersaturation and probability of ice supersaturated layers in low resolution profiles of relative humidity. In: Proceedimgs of 2nd International Conference on Transport, Atmosphere and Climate (TAC-2). 22–25 June 2009, DLR-FB 2010-10, Köln-Porz, Germany, ISSN 1434-8454, Aachen, 239–243 (2010)
Fusina, F., Spichtinger, P. Lohmann, U.: Impact of ice supersaturated regions and thin cirrus on radiation in the midlatitudes. J. Geophys. Res. 112, D24S14, (2007) doi:10.1029/2007JD008449
Gettelman, A., Fetzer, E.J., Elderling, A., Irion, F.W.: The global distribution of supersaturation in the upper troposphere from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder. J. Clim. 19, 6089–6103 (2006). doi:10.1175/JCLI3955.1
Gierens, K., Schumann, U., Helten, M., Smit, H., Marenco, A.: A distribution law for relative humidity in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere derived from three years of MOZAIC measurements. Ann. Geophysicae 17, 1218–1226 (1999). doi:10.1007/s00585-999-1218-7
Gierens, K., Schumann, U., Helten, M., Smit, H., Wang, P.H.: Ice-supersaturated regions and sub visible cirrus in the northern midlatitude upper troposphere. J. Geophys. Res. 105, 22743–22753 (2000). doi:10.1029/2000JD900341
Gierens, K., Spichtinger, P.: On the size distribution of ice-supersaturated regions in the upper troposphere and lowermost stratosphere. Ann. Geophysicae 18, 499–504 (2000). doi:10.1007/s00585-000-0499-7
Gierens, K., Kohlhepp, R., Spichtinger, P., Schroedter-Homscheidt, M.: Ice supersaturation as seen from TOVS. Atmos. Chem. Phys. 4, 539–547 (2004). doi:10.5194/acp-4-539-2004
Gierens, K., Kärcher, B., Mannstein, H., Mayer, B.: Aerodynamic contrails: Phenomenology and flow physics. J. Atmos. Sci. 66, 217–226 (2009). doi:10.1175/2008JAS2767.1
Jensen, E.J., Smith, J.B., Pfister, L., Pittman, J.V., Weinstock, E.M., Sayres, D.S., Herman, R.L., Troy, R.F., Rosenlof, K., Thompson, T.L., et al.: Ice supersaturations exceeding 100 % at the cold tropical tropopause: implications for cirrus formation and dehydration. Atmos. Chem. Phys. 5, 851–862 (2005). doi:10.5194/acp-5-851-2005
Kärcher, B., Mayer, B., Gierens, K., Burkhardt, U., Mannstein, H., Chatterjee, R.: Aerodynamic contrails: microphysics and optical properties. J. Atmos. Sci. 66, 227–243 (2009). doi:10.1175/2008JAS2768.1
Lamquin, N., Stubenrauch, C.J., Gierens, K., Burkhardt, U., Smit, H.: A global climatology of upper-tropospheric ice supersaturation occurrence inferred from the atmospheric infrared sounder calibrated by MOZAIC. Atmos. Chem. Phys. 12, 381–405 (2012). doi:10.5194/acp-12-381-2012
Lübken, F.-J., Lautenbach, J., Höffner, J., Rapp, M., Zecha, M.: First continuous temperature measurements within polar mesosphere summer echoes. J. Atmos. Solar Terr. Phys. 71, 453–463 (2009). doi:10.1016/j.jastp.2008.06.001
Rädel, G., Shine, K.P.: Evaluation of the use of radiosonde humidity data to predict the occurrence of persistent contrails. Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc. 133, 1413–1423 (2007). doi:10.1002/qj.128
Spichtinger, P., Gierens, K., Read, W.: The statistical distribution law of relative humidity in the global tropopause region. Meteorol. Z. 11, 83–88 (2002). doi:10.1127/0941-2948/2002/0011-0083
Spichtinger, P., Gierens, K., Leiterer, U., Dier, H.: Ice supersaturation in the tropopause region over Lindenberg, Germany. Meteorol. Z. 12, 143–156 (2003a). doi:10.1127/0941-2948/2003/0012-0143
Spichtinger, P., Gierens, K., Read, W.: The global distribution of ice-supersaturated regions as seen by the microwave limb sounder. Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc. 129, 3391–3410 (2003b). doi:10.1256/qj.02.141
Spichtinger, P., Gierens, K., Dörnbrack, A.: Formation of ice supersaturation by mesoscale gravity waves. Atmos. Chem. Phys. 5, 1243–1255 (2005a). doi:10.5194/acp-5-1243-2005
Spichtinger, P., Gierens, K., Wernli, H.: A case study of the formation and evolution of ice supersaturation in the vicinity of a warm conveyor belt’s outflow region. Atmos. Chem. Phys. 5, 973–987 (2005b). doi:10.5194/acp-5-973-2005
Tompkins, A., Gierens, K., Rädel, G.: Ice supersaturation in the ECMWF Integrated Forecast System. Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc. 133, 53–63 (2007). doi:10.1002/qj.14
Treffeisen, R., Krejci, R., Ström, J., Engvall, A.C., Herber, A., Thomason, L.: Humidity observations in the Arctic troposphere over Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, based on 15 years of radiosonde data. Atmos. Chem. Phys. 7, 2721–2732 (2007). doi:10.5194/acp-7-2721-2007
Wegener, A.: Meteorologische Terminbeobachtungen am Danmarks-Havn. Meddelelser om Grønland, Vol. XLII: Danmark-Ekspeditionen til Grønlands Nordøstkyst 1906-1908 II, 125–356 (1914)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Gierens, K., Spichtinger, P., Schumann, U. (2012). Ice Supersaturation. In: Schumann, U. (eds) Atmospheric Physics. Research Topics in Aerospace. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-30183-4_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-30183-4_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-30182-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-30183-4
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)