Abstract
Observations summarized and discussed in Chapter 2 show that supersaturations as high as several hundred percent, which would be necessary for drop formation in homogeneous water vapor (see Chapter 7), do not occur in the atmosphere, but that typically supersaturations remain below 10% and most often even below 1%. This indicates that drop formation in the atmosphere occurs via heterogeneous nucleation involving aerosol particles (AP). AP which are capable of initiating drop formation at the observed low supersaturations are called cloud condensation nuclei (CCN).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1978 D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Pruppacher, H.R., Klett, J.D. (1978). Heterogeneous Nucleation. In: Microphysics of Clouds and Precipitation. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-9905-3_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-9905-3_9
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-277-1106-9
Online ISBN: 978-94-009-9905-3
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive