Abstract. Atmospheric aerosol particles that can nucleate ice are referred to as ice-nucleating particles (INPs). Recent studies have confirmed that aerosol
particles emitted by the oceans can act as INPs. This very relevant information
can be included in climate and weather models to predict the formation of ice
in clouds, given that most of them do not consider oceans as a source of
INPs. Very few studies that sample INPs have been carried out in tropical
latitudes, and there is a need to evaluate their availability to understand
the potential role that marine aerosol may play in the hydrological cycle of
tropical regions. This study presents results from the first measurements obtained during a
field campaign conducted in the tropical village of Sisal, located on the
coast of the Gulf of Mexico of the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico in
January–February 2017, and one of the few data sets currently available at
such latitudes (i.e., 21∘ N). Aerosol particles sampled in Sisal
are shown to be very efficient INPs in the immersion freezing mode, with
onset freezing temperatures in some cases as high as −3 ∘C,
similarly to the onset temperature from Pseudomonas syringae. The results
show that the INP concentration in Sisal was higher than at other locations
sampled with the same type of INP counter. Air masses arriving in Sisal after
the passage of cold fronts have surprisingly higher INP concentrations than
the campaign average, despite their lower total aerosol concentration. The high concentrations of INPs at warmer ice nucleation temperatures (T>-15 ∘C) and the supermicron size of the INPs suggest that
biological particles may have been a significant contributor to the INP
population in Sisal during this study. However, our observations also suggest
that at temperatures ranging between −20 and −30 ∘C
mineral dust particles are the likely source of the measured INPs.
Experiments were conducted to determine the amount of clustering that occurs in bubbly flows for which the liquid motion can be described, with a certain degree of accuracy, using potential flow theory. A Hele-Shaw-type channel was used in which bubble overlap was avoided. Direct video image analysis was performed to calculate bubbles properties and identify cluster formation. Despite the significant wall influence of this configuration, it was found that the bubbles do form aggregates with a statistical horizontal tendency. The flow structure was also analyzed using the radial probability distribution, giving indications that support the clustering hypothesis.
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