Contact Freezing of Water Droplets by Crystalline Organic Acids

The ability of water to freeze into ice crystals in mixed-phase clouds affects physical properties, including particle size, precipitation rates, and radiative properties. The presence of an insoluble particle at the surface of water droplets can promote ice nucleation at temperatures higher than that of pure water, even in the absence of a collision. However, contact freezing remains an underexplored mode of ice nucleation. Here, we present a study of atmospherically relevant organic acids and their role as effective ice-nucleating particles (INP) in contact mode using a Raman-microscope-equipped environmental chamber. We determined contact freezing temperatures induced by solid crystals of docosanol, adipic acid, cis-pinonic acid, fumaric acid, 4-hydroxybenzoic acid, palmitic acid, phthalic acid, sebacic acid, stearic acid, terephthalic acid, and vanillic acid. All solids except fumaric acid promoted contact freezing of water droplets at significantly higher temperatures than pure water in the chamber (−15.0 to −18.5 °C vs −21.3 °C). Physical and chemical properties were identified which correlate with greater effectiveness of INPs in the contact mode, including crystal lattice mismatch with ice, carbon number, and insolubility in water. We suggest that the presence of these organic solids in atmospheric aerosols may promote atmospheric ice nucleation at warm temperatures.