Lukas Pfitzenmaier

AS Atmospheric Sciences

The 2015 Outstanding Student Poster (OSP) Award is awarded to Lukas Pfitzenmaier for the poster/PICO entitled:

Effect of cloud microphysics on particle growth under mixed phase conditions (Pfitzenmaier, L.; Dufournet, Y.; Unal, C.; Russchenberg, H.; Myagkov, A.; Seifert, P.)

Click here to download the poster/PICO file.

I am a PhD student at Delft University of Technology, working in the grope of atmospheric remote sensing, lead by Herman Russchenberg. The topic of my work is the observation and understanding of ice crystal growth processes that occur within mixed-phase cloud (containing both ice and liquid phase).
Currently, one of the main challenges is to observe and understand how ice particles grow by interacting with the super-cooled liquid cloud droplets. In the mid latitudes, this process is one of the most efficient process for precipitation formation. The observation of microphysical cloud properties from the ground is one possible approach to study the liquid-ice interaction.
The poster presents first results of a fall-streak correction retrieval for spectral radar data (a fall-streak can be seen as a back-trajectory of a population of particle that will fall through the cloud from top to bottom). By using this correction on radar spectral data, more information can be obtained to enhance liquid layer detection and understand the ice crystal growth processes.

Publication resulting from the award

Pfitzenmaier, L., Unal, C. M. H., Dufournet, Y., and Russchenberg, H. W. J.: Observing ice particle growth along fall streaks in mixed-phase clouds using spectral polarimetric radar data, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 7843–7862, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-7843-2018, 2018.