HAPpy Hour - Looking at large cloud droplets in moist-adiabatic updrafts during the SPICULE field campaign.

Understanding the pathways to achieve cloud droplets large enough (> 55 microns) to initiate the growth of raindrops has been elusive. Confidently measuring the presence of large cloud droplets can be complicated by measurement biases that differ with each instrument’s measurement techniques.
I will share a preliminary analysis of cloud microphysics within cumulus sampled by the NCAR GV during the SPICULE field campaign. The HOLODEC-II and other in-situ probes (CDP and Optical Array Probes) are used to investigate where and how the largest droplets in these clouds are formed. By using data from different types of droplet probes, we can identify instrument differences that are relevant to the study of large cloud droplets. I will include an assessment of the thermodynamics within updrafts sampled at various heights above cloud base, and a view of the aerosol population measured below the clouds using CCN counters and the Giant Nuclei Impactor (Auto-GNI).