Survival of Cirrus Crystals in Clear Air

Abstract

During the summer of 1966 from Bemidji, Minn., aircraft collections of cirrus crystals were made with a continuous particle replicator. Actual samples show that cirrus crystal trails with a concentrations of 105?106 m?3 can survive a fall of 20,000 ft in clear air with a temperature/dew point spread of 15C. Computations of evaporation rates for falling crystals suggest that it is somewhat surprising that the crystals could have survived under the observed conditions; however, this may have been because input data for the calculations are inadequate.