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Flight‐averaged CCN concentrations during the Rain in Cumulus over the Ocean (RICO) field project varied by a factor of four. This was sufficient to provide correlations with flight‐averaged total cloud droplet concentrations (N c ) and mean diameters (MD) that showed greater influence of CCN than updraft velocity (w) on N c and especially MD. The product of CCN and w produced even stronger correlations with N c and MD. An earlier RICO study had shown an inverse relationship of N c and giant nuclei (GN) with large cloud droplet concentrations (N LD ). These two RICO studies now show that the aerosol with the most influence on N LD (MD) is CCN. The results of the present study are similar to earlier studies in more polluted clouds that also showed more influence of CCN than GN on MD/N LD /drizzle. The present study indicates that variations in CCN concentrations even within maritime air masses modulate precipitation.
Hudson et al. (Thu,) studied this question.