In Situ, Airborne Instrumentation: Addressing and Solving Measurement Problems in Ice Clouds

A meeting of 31 international experts on in situ measurements from aircraft was held to identify unresolved questions concerning ice formation and evolution in ice clouds, assess the current state of instrumentation that can address these problems, introduce emerging technology that may overcome current measurement issues and recommend future courses of action that can improve our understanding of ice cloud microphysical processes and their impact on the environment. The meeting proceedings and outcome has been described in detail in a manuscript submitted to the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (BAMS) on March 24, 2011. This paper is currently under review. The remainder of this summary, in the following pages, is the text of the BAMS article. A technical note that will be published by the National Center for Atmospheric Research is currently underway and is expected to be published before the end of the year.