Summary
This progress report summarises the researches of the cloud physics group at Imperial College during the last four years 1949–1952. It describes work carried out on the following topics: 1. the spontaneous condensation of water vapour; 2. measurements on the concentration and size distribution of sea-salt nuclei over the N. Atlantic and their contribution to atmospheric opacity; 3. laboratory and theoretical studies on the supercooling and freezing of water and aqueous solutions; 4. experimental and theoretical researches on ice crystal growth from the vapour; 5. theoretical computations on the growth of water drops and ice particles in both layer and shower type clouds; 6. studies of the form, structure and development of high-level ice clouds and their formation relative to orographic features; 7. the construction of instruments for precipitation studies.
Zusammenfassung
Der vorliegende Bericht gibt einen Überblick über die Forschungen der Arbeitsgruppe für Wolkenphysik am Imperial College in London während der vier Jahre 1949 bis 1952. Es werden Untersuchungen über folgende Probleme beschrieben: 1. Spontane Wasserdampfkondensation; 2. Messungen über die Konzentration und die Größenverteilung von Meersalzkernen über dem Nordatlantik und über ihren Anteil an der atmosphärischen Trübung; 3. theoretische und Laboratoriumsuntersuchungen über Unterkühlung und Gefrieren von Wasser und wässerigen Lösungen; 4. experimentelle und theoretische Untersuchungen über das Wachstum von Eiskristallen aus der dampfförmigen Phase; 5. theoretische Berechnungen über das Wachstum von Wassertropfen und Eispartikeln sowohl in Schicht- wie in Quellbewölkung; 6. Untersuchungen über Form, Aufbau und Entwicklung von hohen Eiswolken und über die Abhängigkeit ihrer Bildung von den orographischen Verhältnissen; 7. Konstruktion von Instrumenten für Niederschlagsuntersuchungen.
Résumé
Le présent rapport résume les recherches effectuées par le groupe d'étude de la physique des nuages de l'«Imperial College» au cours des quatre années 1949–1952, et qui ont concerné les domaines suivants: 1. condensation spontanée de la vapeur d'eau; 2. mesure de la concentration et de la distribution de grosseur des noyaux de sel marin au-dessus de l'Atlantique et leur rôle dans le trouble atmosphérique; 3. recherches théoriques et expérimentales sur la surfusion et la solidification de l'eau et de solutions aqueuses; 4. recherches théoriques et expérimentales sur la croissance de cristaux de glace à partir de la phase gazeuse; 5. essais de calcul de l'accroissement de gouttes d'eau et de particules de glace à l'intérieur de nuages stratifiés ou cumuliformes; 6. recherches sur la forme, la structure et le développement des nuages glacés à haute altitude, ainsi que sur le rôle du relief terrestre sur leur formation; 7. construction d'instruments utiles aux recherches pluviométriques.
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References
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Papers Published by the Imperial College Group
Bigg, E. K. (1953a): The Supercooling of Water. Proc. Phys. Soc. B (in the press).
Bigg, E. K. (1953b): The Formation of Atmospheric Ice Crystals by the Freezing of Droplets. Quart. J. R. Met. Soc.79 (submitted for publication).
Ludlam, F. H. (1948): The Forms of Ice Clouds. Quart. J. R. Met. Soc.74, 39.
— (1950): The Composition of Coagulation Elements in Cumulonimbus. Ibid.76, 52.
— (1951a): The Production of Showers by the Coalescence of Cloud Droplets. Ibid..77, 402.
Ludlam, F. H.: (1951b): The Physics of Ice Clouds and Mixed Clouds. Compendium of Meteorology 192.
— (1952a): The Production of Showers by the Growth of Ice Particles. Quart. J. R. Met. Soc.78, 543.
— (1952b): Orographic Cirrus Clouds. Quart. J. R. Met. Soc.78, 554.
—, (1952c): Hill-Wave Cirrus. Weather7, 300.
Ludlam, F. H. (1953): The Structure of Cumulus Clouds. Proc. of OSTIV. Meeting Madrid (to be published.)
Other Publications
— (1951): Structure of Shower Clouds. Nature154, 254.
— (1951): The Heat Economy of a Rimed Cylinder. Quart. J. R. Met. Soc.77, 663.
Ludlam, F. H. (1952): Artificial and Natural Shower Formation. Weather7, 199.
Mason, B. J. (1950): The Nature of Ice Forming Nuclei in the Atmosphere. Quart. J. R. Met. Soc.76, 59.
— (1951a): Spontaneous Condensation of Water Vapour in Expansion Chamber Experiments. Proc. Phys. Soc., B64, 773.
— (1951b): Snow Crystals—Natural and Artificial. Endeavour, Vol. X, 205.
— (1952a): The Spontaneous Crystallisation of Supercooled Water. Quart. J. R. Met. Soc.78, 22.
— (1952b): The Spontaneous Nucleation of Supercooled Water. Proc. Roy. Soc., A215, 65.
— (1952c): The Production of Rain and Drizzle by Coalescence in Stratiform Clouds. Quart. J. R. Met. Soc.78, 377.
Mason, B. J. (1952d): The Physics of Natural Precipitation and the Artificial Production of Rain. Royal College of Science Journal, Vol. 23.
— (1953): The Growth of Ice Crystals in a Supercooled Water Cloud. Quart. J. R. Met. Soc.79, 104.
Other Publications
Mason, B. J. (1950): The Formation of Ice Crystals and Snowflakes. Cent. Proc. Roy. Met. Soc., p. 51.
Mason, B. J. (1951): The Natural and Artificial Production of Rain. Times Science Review, Autumn, 1951.
— (1951): The Physics of Precipitation and the Artificial Production of Rain. The Advancement of Science, VIII, P. 308.
Mason, B. J. (1952): Thunderstorm Electricity, the Origin and Generation of Lightning. Times Science Review, Autumn, 1952.
Mason, B. J. (1953): The Artificial Production of Snow Crystals in the Laboratory. Die Umschau, p. 15.
Mason, B. J. (1953): A Critical Examination of Theories of Charge Generation in Thunderstorms. Tellus (in the press).
Mason, B. J. (1953): A Theory of Charge Generation in Thunderstorms. Quart. J. R. Met. Soc. (in the press).
Mason, B. J. andB. P. Howorth (1952): Some Characteristics of Stratiform Clouds over N. Ireland in Relation to their Precipitation. Quart. J. R. Met. Soc.78, 226.
Mason, B. J. andF. H. Ludlam (1951): The Microphysics of Clouds. Reports on Progress in Physics (Physical Society, London)14, 147.
Mason, B. J. andP. G. Owston (1952): Ice Crystals of Spiral Form Grown from the Vapour. Phil. Mag., Ser. 7,43, 911.
Mason, B. J. andR. Ramanaham (1953): A Photoelectric Raindrop Spectrometer. Quart. J. R. Met. Soc. (in the press).
Moore, D. J. (1952): Measurements of Condensation Nuclei over the North Atlantic. Quart. J. R. Met. Soc.78, 596.
Scorer, R. S. andF. H. Ludlam (1953): A Bubble Theory of Penetrative Convection. Quart. J. R. Met. Soc.79, 94.
Wexler, R. (1952a): Precipitation Growth in Stratiform Clouds. Quart. J. R. Met. Soc.78, 363.
— (1952b): Theory of the Radar Upper Band. Ibid.78, 372.
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Mason, B.J. Progress in cloud physics research. Arch. Met. Geoph. Biokl. A. 6, 1–52 (1953). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02248850
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02248850