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Ice residual (IR) and total aerosol properties were measured in mixed-phase clouds (MPCs) at the high-alpine Jungfraujoch research station. Black carbon (BC) content and coating thickness of BC-containing particles were determined using single-particle soot photometers. The ice activated fraction (IAF), derived from a comparison of IR and total aerosol particle size distributions, showed an enrichment of large particles in the IR, with an increase in the IAF from values on the order of 10 -4 to 10 -3 for 100 nm (diameter) particles to 0.2 to 0.3 for 1 μm (diameter) particles. Nonetheless, due to the high number fraction of submicrometer particles with respect to total particle number, IR size distributions were still dominated by the submicrometer aerosol. A comparison of simultaneously measured number size distributions of BC-free and BC-containing IR and total aerosol particles showed depletion of BC by number in the IR, suggesting that BC does not play a significant role in ice nucleation in MPCs at the Jungfraujoch. The potential anthropogenic climate impact of BC via the glaciation effect in MPCs is therefore likely to be negligible at this site and in environments with similar meteorological conditions and a similar aerosol population. The IAF of the BC-containing particles also increased with total particle size, in a similar manner as for the BC-free particles, but on a level 1 order of magnitude lower. Furthermore, BC-containing IR were found to have a thicker coating than the BC-containing total aerosol, suggesting the importance of atmospheric aging for ice nucleation.

Corona-producing cirrus clouds were generated and measured under chamber conditions at the AIDA cloud chamber in Karlsruhe. We were able to measure the scattering properties as well as microphysical properties of these clouds under well-defined laboratory conditions in contrast with previous studies of corona-producing clouds, where the measurements were conducted by means of lidar and in situ aircraft measurements. Our results are in agreement with those of previous studies, confirming that corona-producing cirrus clouds consist of a narrow distribution of small (median D p =19-32  μm) and compact ice crystals. We showed that the ice crystals in these clouds are most likely formed in homogeneous freezing processes. As a result of the homogeneous freezing process, the ice crystals grow uniformly in size; furthermore, the majority of the ice crystals have rough surface features.