Research

Speaker: Dr. Paul Lawson - Senior Scientist at SPEC Inc.

The SPICULE field campaign was staged out of the Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport (KBJC) in June 2021 and utilized two research aircraft, the NSF/NCAR Gulfstream V and the SPEC Inc. Learjet 35A. The focus of the project was on in situ and radar measurements of the secondary ice process (SIP) in Cumulus Congestus clouds (CuCg). In addition to data collected during SPICULE, SIP investigations of CuCg from six previous field campaigns are discussed. The data show that a SIP caused by fractured frozen drops (FFD) is the primary cause of rapid glaciation of updraft cores in CuCg that form an active coalescence process.