Control of ship tank heating systems to increase their energy efficiency

An important problem in the operation of icebreakers and Arctic ships is to prevent excessive icing of ballast tanks above the waterline. Uncontrolled ice formation can damage ballast systems and lead to malfunctions of ballast systems during cargo operations. This paper presents an analysis of the dynamics of water temperature in a ballast tank when the heating system is turned on and off. Recommendations on the control algorithm for the heating system that provides maximum energy efficiency are proposed.

ESEM Methodology for the Study of Ice Samples at Environmentally Relevant Subzero Temperatures: “Subzero ESEM”

Frozen aqueous solutions are an important subject of study in numerous scientific branches including the pharmaceutical and food industry, atmospheric chemistry, biology, and medicine. Here, we present an advanced environmental scanning electron microscope methodology for research of ice samples at environmentally relevant subzero temperatures, thus under conditions in which it is extremely challenging to maintain the thermodynamic equilibrium of the specimen. The methodology opens possibilities to observe intact ice samples at close to natural conditions. Based on the results of ANSYS software simulations of the surface temperature of a frozen sample, and knowledge of the partial pressure of water vapor in the gas mixture near the sample, we monitored static ice samples over several minutes. We also discuss possible artifacts that can arise from unwanted surface ice formation on, or ice sublimation from, the sample, as a consequence of shifting conditions away from thermodynamic equilibrium in the specimen chamber. To demonstrate the applicability of the methodology, we characterized how the true morphology of ice spheres containing salt changed upon aging and the morphology of ice spheres containing bovine serum albumin. After combining static observations with the dynamic process of ice sublimation from the sample, we can attain images with nanometer resolution.

Secondary ice production during the break-up of freezing water drops on impact with ice particles

We provide the first dedicated laboratory study of collisions of supercooled water drops with ice particles as a secondary ice production mechanism. We experimentally investigated collisions of supercooled water drops (∼ 5 mm in diameter) with ice particles of a similar size (∼ 6 mm in diameter) placed on a glass slide at temperatures >-12 ∘C. Our results showed that secondary drops were generated during both the spreading and retraction phase of the supercooled water drop impact. The secondary drops generated during the spreading phase were emitted too fast to quantify. However, quantification of the secondary drops generated during the retraction phase with diameters >0.1 mm showed that 5–10 secondary drops formed per collision, with approximately 30 % of the secondary drops freezing over a temperature range between −4 and −12 ∘C. Our results suggest that this secondary ice production mechanism may be significant for ice formation in atmospheric clouds containing large supercooled drops and ice particles.

The relevance of different heterogeneous ice formation processes for the precipitation budget

<p>Heterogeneous ice formation in mixed-phase precipitating clouds plays an important role in current weather and climate research. The complex interaction between aerosols, clouds and dynamics taking place within these clouds is still not understood. One major reason for that gap in knowledge is the fact that most of the relevant processes take place inside the complex turbulent environment inside of the cloud, making observations difficult. Also, the unknown impact of ice formation on cloud lifetime and precipitation evolution introduces large uncertainties into numeric weather prediction and climate projections.</p> <p>In the present study, we analyze datasets gathered at four different Cloudnet (Illingworth et al., 2007) sites in order to quantify and disentangle the impact of temperature and vertical air motions on precipitation formation. Basis for the investigation are combined measurements of lidar, cloud radar and ground-based disdrometer/rain sensor measurements processes with the Cloudnet algorithm. Fallstreak tracking methods are applied in order to connect rain events on the ground with their generating level/temperature at cloud top. We have evaluated combined remote sensing data gathered at different Cloudnet sites in order to contrast the relationship between cloud top temperature (CTT) and rain formation processes. The datasets at Leipzig (Germany), Limassol (Cyprus) and Punta Arenas (Chile) were collected with the Leipzig Aerosol and Cloud Remote Observations System (LACROS). The Barbados dataset was acquired with the Barbados Cloud Observatory (BCO) of Max-Planck Institute for Meteorology Hamburg.</p>

Disentangling the contributions of orographic waves, boundary-layer coupling, and aerosol to the occurrence of ice in mixed-phase clouds

<p>We will present a study on the impacts of orographic waves, surface coupling, and aerosol load on the frequency of heterogeneous ice formation in stratiform clouds using ground-based remote-sensing observations. Disentangling the convoluted effects of vertical motions and aerosols is critical for the understanding of heterogeneous ice formation and requires comprehensive observations. For the study, multi-year datasets from Punta Arenas (53.1°S 70.9°W, Chile, >2 years) and the northern hemispheric sites of Leipzig (51.4°N 12.4°E, Germany, 2.6 years) and Limassol (34.7°N 33.0°E, Cyprus, 1.5 years) were obtained by the same set of ground-based instruments (35-GHz cloud radar, Raman polarization lidar, 14-channel microwave radiometer, Doppler lidar, and disdrometer). The datasets at Limassol and Punta Arenas resemble the first multi-year ground-based remote-sensing datasets in the Eastern Mediterranean and in the western part of the Southern Ocean, respectively.</p> <p>The cloud properties were extracted from the synergistic dataset and the following key results on the efficiency of heterogeneous ice formation emerged:<br />The apparent lack of ice forming clouds at Punta Arenas below -15 <strong>°</strong>C can be related to orographic gravity waves, which allow persistent liquid saturation. These clouds could be identified by the autocorrelation function of the in-cloud vertical air velocity. Additionally, a correlation between the surface-coupling of a cloud and the likelihood of ice formation was found for Punta Arenas and Leipzig. At T>-10°C clouds coupled to the aerosol-rich boundary layer, were found to contain ice more frequently. Taking both effects into account, free-tropospheric, fully turbulent clouds at Punta Arenas form ice less frequently than their northern-hemispheric counterparts. This difference is linked to the lower abundance of INP in the free troposphere over the Southern Ocean.</p>

End Plate Effects on the Performance of PEMFCs During Cold Start Process

The efficient, fast, and reliable cold start of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells is one of the major challenges for their commercialization. In this paper a segmented single cell is used to simulate the end plate effects of the stack and to investigate how the effects work. The results demonstrate that the end cells in the stack have the lowest performance, the reasons for which include the lowest temperature of the cells themselves, and probably also ice blocking in part an area inside the MEA, or in the channels, or in both together. In order to mitigate or even eliminate the influence of ice formation in the end cells, the temperature of the end plates should be increased to -10℃ or above when liquid water is generated. A high inlet gas flow rate facilitates the discharge of supercooled water and is conducive to successful cold start.

The contribution of Saharan dust to the ice-nucleating particle concentrations at the High Altitude Station Jungfraujoch (3580 m a.s.l.), Switzerland

The ice phase in mixed-phase clouds has a pivotal role in global precipitation formation as well as for Earth's radiative budget. Above 235 K, sparse particles with the special ability to initiate ice formation, ice-nucleating particles (INPs), are responsible for primary ice formation within these clouds. Mineral dust has been found to be one of the most abundant INPs in the atmosphere at temperatures colder than 258 K. However, the extent of the abundance and distribution of INPs remains largely unknown. To better constrain and quantify the impact of mineral dust on ice nucleation, we investigate the frequency of Saharan dust events (SDEs) and their contribution to the INP number concentration at 243 K and at a saturation ratio with respect to liquid water (Sw) of 1.04 at the High Altitude Research Station Jungfraujoch (JFJ; 3580 m a.s.l.) from February to December 2020. Using the single-scattering albedo Ångström exponent retrieved from a nephelometer and an Aethalometer, satellite-retrieved dust mass concentrations, simulated tropospheric residence times, and the attenuated backscatter signal from a ceilometer as proxies, we detected 26 SDEs, which in total contributed to 17 % of the time span analyzed. We found every SDE to show an increase in median INP concentrations compared to those of all non-SDE periods; however, they were not always statistically significant. Median INP concentrations of individual SDEs spread between 1.7 and 161 INP std L−1 and thus 2 orders of magnitude. In the entire period analyzed, 74.7 ± 0.2 % of all INPs were measured during SDEs. Based on satellite-retrieved dust mass concentrations, we argue that mineral dust is also present at JFJ outside of SDEs but at much lower concentrations, thus still contributing to the INP population. We estimate that 97 % of all INPs active in the immersion mode at 243 K and Sw=1.04 at JFJ are dust particles. Overall, we found INP number concentrations to follow a leptokurtic lognormal frequency distribution. We found the INP number concentrations during SDEs to correlate with the ceilometer backscatter signals from a ceilometer located 4.5 km north of JFJ and 1510 m lower in altitude, thus scanning the air masses at the same altitude as JFJ. Using the European ceilometer network allows us to study the atmospheric pathway of mineral dust plumes over a large domain, which we demonstrate in two case studies. These studies showed that mineral dust plumes form ice crystals at cirrus altitudes, which then sediment to lower altitudes. Upon sublimation in dryer air layers, the residual particles are left potentially pre-activated. Future improvements to the sampling lines of INP counters are required to study whether these particles are indeed pre-activated, leading to larger INP number concentrations than reported here.

Hemispheric contrasts in ice formation in stratiform mixed-phase clouds: disentangling the role of aerosol and dynamics with ground-based remote sensing

Multi-year ground-based remote-sensing datasets were acquired with the Leipzig Aerosol and Cloud Remote Observations System (LACROS) at three sites. A highly polluted central European site (Leipzig, Germany), a polluted and strongly dust-influenced eastern Mediterranean site (Limassol, Cyprus), and a clean marine site in the southern midlatitudes (Punta Arenas, Chile) are used to contrast ice formation in shallow stratiform liquid clouds. These unique, long-term datasets in key regions of aerosol–cloud interaction provide a deeper insight into cloud microphysics. The influence of temperature, aerosol load, boundary layer coupling, and gravity wave motion on ice formation is investigated. With respect to previous studies of regional contrasts in the properties of mixed-phase clouds, our study contributes the following new aspects: (1) sampling aerosol optical parameters as a function of temperature, the average backscatter coefficient at supercooled conditions is within a factor of 3 at all three sites. (2) Ice formation was found to be more frequent for cloud layers with cloud top temperatures above -15∘C than indicated by prior lidar-only studies at all sites. A virtual lidar detection threshold of ice water content (IWC) needs to be considered in order to bring radar–lidar-based studies in agreement with lidar-only studies. (3) At similar temperatures, cloud layers which are coupled to the aerosol-laden boundary layer show more intense ice formation than decoupled clouds. (4) Liquid layers formed by gravity waves were found to bias the phase occurrence statistics below -15∘C. By applying a novel gravity wave detection approach using vertical velocity observations within the liquid-dominated cloud top, wave clouds can be classified and excluded from the statistics. After considering boundary layer and gravity wave influences, Punta Arenas shows lower fractions of ice-containing clouds by 0.1 to 0.4 absolute difference at temperatures between −24 and -8∘C. These differences are potentially caused by the contrast in the ice-nucleating particle (INP) reservoir between the different sites.