Ostwald ripening and the kinetics of rain initiation

Abstract

A central problem in cloud physics is understanding the kinetics of the growth of water droplets. It is believed that there exists a 'condensation-coalescence bottleneck' in the growth of intermediate size droplets. Here the Lifshitz-Slezov theory of Ostwald ripening is applied to the kinetics of the growth of rain drops. The analysis shows that kinetic barriers to rain initiation are not significant. It is also shown that Ostwald ripening can greatly enhance the apparent collision efficiency of droplets falling under gravity.