Aerosol and cloud microphysics measurements in Hawaii¹

1 This work was sponsored by the National Science Foundation under Contract NSF-C401.

Abstract

In conjunction with a cooperative study of the warm rain process, selective measurements were made of the microphysical properties of Hawaiian clouds forming inland (orographic) versus those forming out to sea. Within the context of a brief field program, an attempt was made to establish certain bounds on associated aerosol concentration, cloud drop sizes, droplet concentration and liquid water content. Differences in the slopes of supersaturation-nucleus concentration spectra appear related to the continental character of the aerosol and the size distributions of nuclei involved. The data suggest that the size distribution of effective cloud nuclei can be approximated by an r?3/4 to r?3/2 radius function.