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... > Science Keywords > EARTH SCIENCE > ATMOSPHERE > CLOUDS > CLOUD MICROPHYSICS > SEDIMENTATION > SEDIMENTATION RATE

Preferred term

SEDIMENTATION RATE  

Definition

  • For conditions in the lowest 10-15 km of Earth's atmosphere, the sedimentation (or fall) rate of a spherical cloud particle is given as the characteristic time for it to fall a distance of one atmospheric scale height (about 8 km on Earth) by tau-1fall = (2 rhop mg2 / 9 eta kT ) r2M where eta is the atmospheric dynamic viscosity (the resistance of the atmosphere to movement through it), (kT/mg) is the atmospheric scale height (k is Boltzmann's constant, T is atmospheric temperature, m is weight of a gas molecule, g is acceleration by gravity), rhop is the mass density of the cloud particle, and rM is the mass-weighted-average cloud particle radius. Essentially, the sedimentation rate increases proportionally to the particle cross-section (r2M). (en)

Broader concept

Change note

  • 2013-02-14 14:59:51.0 [mpmorahan] Insert Concept add broader relation (SEDIMENTATION RATE [bee9f657-c115-4d73-a10c-7e05e00db574,82325] - SEDIMENTATION [8d66dbbe-886e-449d-bfd2-93fc8d357ccd,82323]);
  • 2017-03-15 17:38:10.0 [sritz] insert Definition (id: null text: For conditions in the lowest 10-15 km of Earth's atmosphere, the sedimentation (or fall) rate of a spherical cloud particle is given as the characteristic time for it to fall a distance of one atmospheric scale height (about 8 km on Earth) by tau-1fall = (2 rhop mg2 / 9 eta kT ) r2M where eta is the atmospheric dynamic viscosity (the resistance of the atmosphere to movement through it), (kT/mg) is the atmospheric scale height (k is Boltzmann's constant, T is atmospheric temperature, m is weight of a gas molecule, g is acceleration by gravity), rhop is the mass density of the cloud particle, and rM is the mass-weighted-average cloud particle radius. Essentially, the sedimentation rate increases proportionally to the particle cross-section (r2M). language code: en);

URI

https://gcmd.earthdata.nasa.gov/kms/concept/bee9f657-c115-4d73-a10c-7e05e00db574

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