Name: Julia
Status: student
Grade: 6-8
Location: AL
Country: USA
Date: Winter 2012
Question:
What is the Bergeron process?
Replies:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bergeron_process
Sincere regards,
Mike Stewart
Julia,
Wikipedia has a good description of the Bergeron-Findeisen process at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bergeron_process.
The Bergeron-Findeisen process of ice crystal growth in cold clouds
requires that super-cooled water droplets and ice crystals co-exist
in the same cloud. The temperature must be below freezing for
ice crystals to form, while at the same time it cannot be too much
below freezing for water droplets to form also. Since the equilibrium
vapor pressure over water is greater than the saturation vapor
pressure over ice at those temperatures, water vapor in the cloud
tends to be condensed onto the ice crystals instead of onto the
water droplets,
and also water evaporates from the water droplets and is condensed
onto the ice crystals. Therefore, the ice crystals tend to grow faster
than the water droplets.
David R. Cook
Meteorologist
Climate Research Section
Environmental Science Division
Argonne National Laboratory
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