statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2018A microscope for clouds\u2019 <\/p>\n
According to the researchers, the new lidar provides \u201cultra-high-resolution\u201d images into cloud dynamics. Impressively, the lidar detects and counts individual photons\u2014massless, light-carrying particles\u2014bursting out of a cloud hit by ultrafast laser pulses.<\/p>\n
Then, a custom data-sampling algorithm translates the photon signals into a profile of the cloud structure. The lidar is \u201cessentially a microscope for clouds,\u201d Fan Yang, study lead author and a Brookhaven researcher, said in the statement.<\/p>\n
![\"Lidar](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/lidar-movie-300px.gif\")
A video captured from a camera above the cloud chamber shows the boundary where air meets the top of the cloud. In the upper part of the frame, you can see swirling air and downward pushes of outside air that noticeably change the cloud\u2019s upper structure compared to the rest of the cloud. Credit: Michigan Technological University\/BNL <\/p>\n
The team took its device to a cloud chamber in Michigan, where the researchers could artificially generate clouds under temperature and humidity conditions of their choice. This allowed them to document the precise physics of how cloud droplets are distributed throughout a cloud.<\/p>\n
What they found was that, surprisingly, existing models fell short when it came to describing cloud physics.\u00a0Specifically, the lidar measurements revealed a high variation of cloud droplet distribution at the top, whereas things were more uniform throughout the rest of the cloud.<\/p>\n
Turbulent cloud physics <\/p>\n
The researchers believe this may be due to two processes, entrainment and sedimentation. Entrainment draws the clear, dry air above the cloud downward, resulting in a spotty distribution of droplets on the uppermost layer of the cloud. At the same time, sedimentation automatically sorts droplets according to size so that heavier droplets fall faster into the clouds compared to lighter ones.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the bulky cloud interior typically experiences strong turbulence, so the droplets immediately blend together in a uniform manner. In comparison, cloud tops have much weaker turbulence, so only relatively small droplets stay suspended in that region of the cloud.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany atmospheric models either neglect droplet sedimentation altogether or represent droplets of different sizes with a single fall speed,\u201d Yang explained. \u201cThis simplification is reasonable in the bulk region of the cloud, where turbulence is strong, but it breaks down near the cloud top, where turbulence is weaker.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tracking the silver lining <\/p>\n
The new findings have significant implications for atmospheric science, the researchers argue in the paper. For instance, inaccurate representations of cloud-top physics can \u201cintroduce substantial uncertainty into model predictions of how clouds reflect sunlight and trigger rainfall,\u201d Yang said.<\/p>\n
The researchers hope the lidar could eventually be used to directly measure clouds in the real atmosphere, in addition to refining current models. After all, they admitted, a cloud chamber isn\u2019t the perfect representation of real-life cloud dynamics\u2014although technological advances have allowed researchers to come impressively close.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you\u2019ve ever been on a plane, you\u2019re probably familiar with what cloud tops look like: generally white…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":203543,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[40157,85,46,141],"class_list":{"0":"post-203542","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-atmospheric-science","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-israel","11":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203542\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/203543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Experimental](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/experimental-setup-hr-brookhaven-cloud-chamber-1280x960.jpg\")
A photograph of the experimental cloud chamber setup at Michigan Technological University, which allows researchers to create and study clouds under carefully controlled conditions. Credit: Michigan Technological University\/BNL <\/p>\n