Behaviour of H2O2, NH3, and black carbon in mixed-phase clouds during CIME

We investigated the partitioning of trace substances during the phase transition from supercooled to mixed-phase cloud induced by artificial seeding. Simultaneous determination of the concentrations of H2O2, NH3 and black carbon (BC) in both condensed and interstitial phases with high time resolution showed that the three species undergo different behaviour in the presence of a mixture of ice crystals and supercooled droplets. Both H2O2 and NH3 are efficiently scavenged by growing ice crystals, whereas BC stayed predominantly in the interstitial phase. In addition, the scavenging of H2O2 is driven by co-condensation with water vapour onto ice crystals while NH3 uptake into the ice phase is more efficient than co-condensation alone. The high solubility of NH4+ in the ice could explain this result. Finally, it appears that the H2O2–SO2 reaction is very slow in the ice phase with respect to the liquid phase. Our results are directly applicable for clouds undergoing limited riming.