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How do ice-nucleating agents sprayed into the atmosphere affect hail formation? Can NEXRAD radar generate plasma-induced ice formation in clouds, resulting in ice multiplication? All of this will be discussed in what follows, which is a deeper look into the unusually-large size of hailstones that are reported more and more recently.
The information provided from experimental results taken from Weather Patent # 3587966 (June 28, 1971), entitled Freezing Nucleation, is worth considering, especially when discussing ice formation in clouds. Forty years later, could the deliberate use or calibration of newer technology regarding ice-nucleating agents be causing larger hail stones to form and drop instantly, in a way to prevent smaller hail from damaging a wider area of commercial interest? Let us also keep in mind how changing atmospheric conditions (temperature, humidity, etc) can react with ice-nucleating agents causing unprecedented hail formation. We encourage the reader to draw their own conclusions on the relationship between hail storms and ice-nucleating agents. Weather Patent # 3587966 (June 28, 1971), entitled Freezing Nucleation, states:
The present invention relates to depositing ice and other hydrogen-bonding crystals from clouds and to freezing nucleants for causing deposition of ice from clouds.
A process of the invention is to provide more effective freezing nucleants to cause ice to separate from clouds.
Such nucleants are useful for cloud seeding in connection with artificial creation of rain, and also as controls for measurement of other nucleants in connection with precipitation of ice or freezing nucleation in cloud chambers.
These products having between 1 and 50 percent sodium chloride ion impregnated according to example I (washed and unwashed), gave massive ice at temperatures of about minus 10° C in an isothermal cloud chamber.
Other results are graded by the skilled‘operator on a judgement basis from 1 to 10, reserving the value of 10 for the best nucleant ever tested, ammoniated silver iodide, recognizing that a superior nucleant will form in a shorter time larger numbers of ice crystals in the viewing volume and also will form ice at a higher onset temperature than a poor nucleant.
The product of example 1, with a concentration of 20 percent sodium chloride (unwashed) formed massive ice at minus 8“ to minus 10° C and was given a rating of 6, this being one of the best material obtained by the techniques above set forth.It is also worth mentioning a study that has been conducted, regarding laser-induced plasma cloud interaction and ice multiplication under cirrus cloud conditions:
Potential impacts of lightning-induced plasma on cloud ice formation and precipitation have been a subject of debate for decades. Here, we report on the interaction of laser-generated plasma channels with water and ice clouds observed in a large cloud simulation chamber. Under the conditions of a typical storm cloud, in which ice and supercooled water coexist, no direct influence of the plasma channels on ice formation or precipitation processes could be detected. Under conditions typical for thin cirrus ice clouds, however, the plasma channels induced a surprisingly strong effect of ice multiplication. Within a few minutes, the laser action led to a strong enhancement of the total ice particle number density in the chamber by up to a factor of 100, even though only a 10(-9) fraction of the chamber volume was exposed to the plasma channels. The newly formed ice particles quickly reduced the water vapor pressure to ice saturation, thereby increasing the cloud optical thickness by up to three orders of magnitude. A model relying on the complete vaporization of ice particles in the laser filament and the condensation of the resulting water vapor on plasma ions reproduces our experimental findings. This surprising effect might open new perspectives for remote sensing of water vapor and ice in the upper troposphere.
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Keeping in mind the abilities of radar to generate plasma, we are brought back to the study (above) indicating that, "the plasma channels induced a surprisingly strong effect of ice multiplication. Within a few minutes, the laser action led to a strong enhancement of the total ice particle number density in the chamber by up to a factor of 100". Could this be a plausible explanation for the unusually large size of hail stones that have been reported more often, recently? Got hail?
Related Articles:
Silver Iodide: The Case Against Cloud-Seeding
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