ENVIRSC 1C03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Ice Crystals, Acid Rain, Ice
31 Mar 2018
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Document Summary
Precipitation is any form of water that falls from a cloud and reaches the ground; ie. liquid or solid water crystals that fall from the atm to the ground surface. It is driven by the same processes that drive cloud formation. The process may start quickly (eg. through convective heating and dissipation) Most precip is formed through accretion, and many times, rain begins as ice. Warm clouds have an overall temp profile >0c. Their formation begins when saturated air rises rapidly. As it rises, it cools, which forces condensation and creates droplets of water in the cloud. As more condensation is added, the droplets grow until they reach a diameter of 50-100 m. The droplets are carried in the rising cloud and they collide and coalesce with each other, building up drops that are ~1000-5000 m; the size of raindrops.
