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Detailed Reference Information |
Westbrook, C.D., Ball, R.C., Field, P.R. and Heymsfield, A.J. (2004). Universality in snowflake aggregation. Geophysical Research Letters 31: doi: 10.1029/2004GL020363. issn: 0094-8276. |
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Aggregation of ice crystals is a key process governing precipitation. Individual ice crystals exhibit considerable diversity of shape, and a wide range of physical processes could influence their aggregation; despite this we show that a simple computer model captures key features of aggregate shape and size distribution reported recently from cirrus clouds. The results prompt a new way to plot the experimental size distributions leading to remarkably good dynamical scaling. That scaling independently confirms that there is a single dominant aggregation mechanism at play, albeit our model (based on undeflected trajectories to contact) does not capture its form exactly. |
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BACKGROUND DATA FILES |
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Abstract |
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Keywords
Atmospheric Composition and Structure, Cloud physics and chemistry, Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics, Mesoscale meteorology, Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics, Numerical modeling and data assimilation, Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics, Precipitation, Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics, Theoretical modeling |
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Publisher
American Geophysical Union 2000 Florida Avenue N.W. Washington, D.C. 20009-1277 USA 1-202-462-6900 1-202-328-0566 service@agu.org |
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