A Comprehensive Habit Diagram for Atmospheric Ice Crystals: Confirmation from the Laboratory, AIRS II, and Other Field Studies

Abstract Recent laboratory experiments and in situ observations have produced results in broad agreement with respect to ice crystal habits in the atmosphere. These studies reveal that the ice crystal habit at −20°C is platelike, extending to −40°C, and not columnar as indicated in many habit diagrams found in atmospheric science journals and texts. These diagrams were typically derived decades ago from laboratory studies, some with inherent habit bias, or from combinations of laboratory and in situ observations at the ground, observations that often did not account for habit modification by precipitation from overlying clouds of varying temperatures. Habit predictions from these diagrams often disagreed with in situ observations at temperatures below −20°C. More recent laboratory and in situ studies have achieved a consensus on atmospheric ice crystal habits that differs from the traditional habit diagrams. These newer results can now be combined to give a comprehensive description of ice crystal habits for the atmosphere as a function of temperature and ice supersaturation for temperatures from 0° to −70°C, a description dominated by irregular and imperfect crystals. Cloud particle imager (CPI) habit observations made during the Second Alliance Icing Research Study (AIRS II) and elsewhere corroborate this comprehensive habit description, and a new habit diagram is derived from these results.