Analysis of insoluble particles in hailstones in China

Insoluble particles influence weather and climate by means of heterogeneous freezing process. Current weather and climate models face considerable uncertainties in freezing-process simulation due to limited information regarding species and number concentrations of heterogeneous ice-nucleating parti...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Atmospheric chemistry and physics 2023-11, Vol.23 (21), p.13957-13971
Main Authors: Zhang, Haifan, Lin, Xiangyu, Zhang, Qinghong, Bi, Kai, Ng, Chan-Pang, Ren, Yangze, Xue, Huiwen, Chen, Li, Chang, Zhuolin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aerosols
Analysis
Atmospheric chemistry
Atmospheric models
Atmospheric particulates
Climate
Climate and weather
Climate models
Clouds
Crystals
Dust
Electron microscopy
Embryos
Freezing
Geographical distribution
Hail
Hailstones
Ice
Ice nucleation
Machine learning
Physical properties
Scanning electron microscopy
Scientific imaging
Shells
Simulation
Size distribution
Spectrometry
Storms
Temperature
Uncertainty
Weather
X-ray spectroscopy
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Summary:Insoluble particles influence weather and climate by means of heterogeneous freezing process. Current weather and climate models face considerable uncertainties in freezing-process simulation due to limited information regarding species and number concentrations of heterogeneous ice-nucleating particles, particularly insoluble particles. Here, for the first time, the size distribution and species of insoluble particles are analyzed in 30 shells of 12 hailstones collected from China using scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry. A total of 289 461 insoluble particles were detected and divided into three species – organics, dust, and bioprotein – utilizing machine learning methods. The size distribution of the insoluble particles of each species varies greatly among the different hailstones but little in their shells. Further, a classic size distribution of organics and dust followed logarithmic normal distributions, which could potentially be adapted in future weather and climate models despite the existence of uncertainties. Our findings highlight the need for atmospheric chemistry to be considered in the simulation of ice-freezing processes.
ISSN:1680-7324
1680-7316
1680-7324
DOI:10.5194/acp-23-13957-2023