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<br />00319!: <br /> <br />Much ofthe SLW produced by forced ascent over mountain barriers is not naturally converted <br />to ice particles during portions of some winter storms. The SL W can exist at temperatures well <br />below 0 oC because of the scarcity of ice-forming nuclei capable of converting the supercooled <br />cloud droplets to ice crystals. Ice nuclei are highly temperature dependent and the <br />concentration of effective ice nuclei increases by about a factor of 10 with a 4 OC decrease in <br />cloud temperature. <br /> <br />Once ice particles are formed in SLW cloud, they initially grow at the expense of the <br />surrounding supercooled droplets because of the difference in saturation vapor pressure over <br />liquid and ice (diffusional growth). Later growth may be accelerated by accretion, if many cloud <br />droplets collide with and freeze on falling ice particles, and/or by aggregation, if many ice <br />crystals chain together into large snowflakes. Larger snowflakes and snow pellets formed by <br />accretion are more likely to reach the surface as snow because of their higher terminal fall <br />velocities. <br /> <br />Natural ice particle production is often too low for efficient conversion of the SL W to snowfall. In <br />some inefficient clouds, ground-based seeding from high altitude AgI generators or propane <br />dispensers can create a significant increase in the ice particle concentration in the lowest <br />several hundred meters above the windward slopes; that is, within the primary SLW zone. The <br />SLW and ground-based seeding zones are shown conceptually on figure 1. Cloud above the <br />primary SLW zone consists mostly of ice crystals with perhaps limited liquid in some portions. <br />Ice crystals initiated by seeding will grow as the crystals are transported along quasi-horizontal <br />trajectories through the SLW zone. Growth will be especially rapid when SLW is abundant <br />across the entire barrier, but will continue when at least ice saturation exists. Cloud <br />temperature also influences ice particle growth rates (Redder and Fukuta, 1989). <br /> <br />r <br />~ <br /> <br />When the environment is suitable for adequate growth of some ice particles to permit their <br />fallout to the target surface, the seeding will cause additional snowfall. Depending upon the <br />growth environment and three-dimensional wind field, additional snowfall may occur for some <br />distance beyond the mountain barriers, although evidence is weak for far downwind effects <br />(e.g., Grant et al., 1992) On a long-term basis, the great majority of seeded snowfall is expected <br />to settle on the higher elevations of the target barrier. <br /> <br />~ <br /> <br />Conditions which favor seeded crystal growth and fallout include limited natural ice crystals, <br />abundant and nearly continuous SLW from the generators to the target, and moderate winds. <br />Exceptionally strong winds may produce abundant SLW, but transport time across the barrier <br />may be too short for many snowflakes to settle to the surface before being carried to the lee <br />evaporation/subsidence zone. <br /> <br />As shown by Rauber and Grant (1986), the 'best" ice particle concentration for conversion of <br />SLW to ice is a complex function of several variables. For practical purposes, the desired <br />concentration in the crystal growth zone should be at least 10 ice crystals VI and may be over <br />100 VI in some situations (this point will be further investigated during the direct detection <br />experiments). Attaining such concentrations requires that at least part of the SLW zone <br />through which the ground-released AgI is mixed by mechanical turbulence (and sometimes <br />weak convection) be colder than about -8 ac. This temperature might be increased by about <br />2 to 3 oC with newer, more effective AgI solutions and high output generators. For ground-based <br />propane seeding, significant ice particle concentrations may be formed in supercooled cloud at <br /> <br />11 <br />