• Atmosphere
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.75-89
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• 2020

Current in-situ airborne probes that measure the sizes of ice crystals smaller than 50 ㎛ are based on the concept that the measured intensity of light scattered by a particle in the forward and/or backward direction can be converted to particle size. The relationship between particle size and scattered light used in forward scattering probes is based on Mie theory, which assumes the refractive index of particle is known and all particles are spherical. Not only are small crystals not spherical, but also there are a wide variety of non-spherical shapes. Although it is well known that the scattering properties of non-spherical ice crystals differ from those of spherical shapes, the impacts of non-sphericity on derived in-situ particle size distributions are unknown. Thus, precise relationships between the intensity of scattered light and particle size and shape are required, as based on accurate calculations of scattering properties of ice crystals. In this study, single-scattering properties of ice crystals smaller than 50 ㎛ are calculated at a wavelength of 0.55 ㎛ using a numerically exact method (i.e., discrete dipole approximation). For these calculations, hexagonal ice crystals with varying aspect ratios are used to represent the shapes of natural small ice crystals to determine the errors caused by non-spherical ice crystals measured by forward scattering probes. It is shown that the calculated errors in sizing nonspherical ice crystals are at least 13% and 26% in forward (4~12°) and backward (168~176°) directions, respectively, and maximum errors are up to 120% and 132%.

• Atmosphere
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.113-141
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• 2021

The impacts of ice clouds on the energy budget of the Earth and their representation in climate models have been identified as important and unsolved problems. Ice clouds consist almost exclusively of non-spherical ice crystals with various shapes and sizes. To determine the influences of ice clouds on solar and infrared radiation as required for remote sensing retrievals and numerical models, knowledge of scattering and microphysical properties of ice crystals is required. A conventional method for representing the radiative properties of ice clouds in satellite retrieval algorithms and numerical models is to combine measured microphysical properties of ice crystals from field campaigns and pre-calculated single-scattering libraries of different shapes and sizes of ice crystals, which depend heavily on microphysical and scattering properties of ice crystals. However, large discrepancies between theoretical calculations and observations of the radiative properties of ice clouds have been reported. Electron microscopy images of ice crystals grown in laboratories and captured by balloons show varying degrees of complex morphologies in sub-micron (e.g., surface roughness) and super-micron (e.g., inhomogeneous internal and external structures) scales that may cause these discrepancies. In this study, the current idealized models representing morphologies of ice crystals and the corresponding numerical methods (e.g., geometric optics, discrete dipole approximation, T-matrix, etc.) to calculate the single-scattering properties of ice crystals are reviewed. Current problems and difficulties in the calculations of the single-scattering properties of atmospheric ice crystals are addressed in terms of cloud microphysics. Future directions to develop physically consistent ice-crystal models are also discussed.