Field measurements suggest the mechanism of laser-assisted water condensation

  • Because of the potential impact on agriculture and other key human activities, efforts have been dedicated to the local control of precipitation. The most common approach consists of dispersing small particles of dry ice, silver iodide, or other salts in the atmosphere. Here we show, using field experiments conducted under various atmospheric conditions, that laser filaments can induce water condensation and fast droplet growth up to several μm in diameter in the atmosphere as soon as the relative humidity exceeds 70%. We propose that this effect relies mainly on photochemical formation of p.p.m.-range concentrations of hygroscopic Hno3, allowing efficient binary Hno3–H2o condensation in the laser filaments. Thermodynamic, as well as kinetic, numerical modelling based on this scenario semiquantitatively reproduces the experimental results, suggesting that particle stabilization by Hno3 has a substantial role in the laser-induced condensation.

Download full text files

Export metadata

Metadaten
Author:Stefano Henin, Yannick Petit, Philipp Rohwetter, Kamil StelmaszczykORCiD, Zuoqiang Hao, Walter Morinobu Nakaema, Andreas Vogel, Tobias PohlORCiD, Friedhelm Schneider, Jérôme KasparianORCiD, Konradin Weber, Ludger Wöste, Jean-Pierre WolfORCiD
Qualitätssicherung:peer reviewed
open access:Gold - Erstveröffentlichung mit Lizenzhinweis
Fachbereich/Einrichtung:Hochschule Düsseldorf / Fachbereich - Maschinenbau und Verfahrenstechnik
Document Type:Article
Year of Completion:2011
Language of Publication:English
Publisher:Springer Nature
Parent Title (English):Nature Communications
Volume:2
Issue:1
Article Number:456
URN:urn:nbn:de:hbz:due62-opus-52439
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms1462
ISSN:2041-1723
Tag:Luftreinhaltung
GND Keyword:Kondensation; Laser; Niederschlag
Dewey Decimal Classification:6 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften / 62 Ingenieurwissenschaften / 620 Ingenieurwissenschaften und zugeordnete Tätigkeiten
Licence (German):Creative Commons - CC BY-NC-SA - Namensnennung - Nicht kommerziell - Weitergabe unter gleichen Bedingungen 3.0
Release Date:2025/05/16
Diese Webseite verwendet technisch erforderliche Session-Cookies. Durch die weitere Nutzung der Webseite stimmen Sie diesem zu. Unsere Datenschutzerklärung finden Sie hier.