Measurements of Ice Crystal Growth Rates in Air at -5C and -10C

Abstract

We present experiments investigating the growth of ice crystals from water vapor in air using a free-fall convection chamber. We measured growth rates at temperatures of -5 C and -10 C as a function of supersaturation at an air pressure near one bar. We compared our data with numerical models of diffusion-limited growth based on cellular automata to extract surface growth parameters at different temperatures and supersaturations. From these investigations we hope to better understand the surface molecular dynamics that determine crystal growth rates and morphologies.