Speaker
Description
The ablation products of meteoroids are incorporated into aqueous sulfuric acid and these have been measured in stratospheric particles. More recently it has been shown that metals from the ablation of satellites and upper-stage are also incorporated into aqueous stratospheric sulfuric acid particles.
These particles have the potential to act as the ice nuclei upon which polar stratospheric and upper tropospheric cirrus clouds form. This is atmospherically significant because polar stratospheric clouds represent sites significant to ozone chemistry. Moreover, cirrus clouds are among the greatest uncertainty in our current understanding of climate change.
This presentation will discuss what is known from laboratory and field measurements of ice cloud formation as well as potential future studies to better define ice nucleation on these particles.
