Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-physics-of-atmospheres-and-oceans-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2017/2/b/solution

Using the adiabatic cloud droplet moments, define and the mean volume radius by . Summing the liquid mass of spherical droplets gives
Therefore, with the shallow-cloud liquid-water content ,
The growth is at fixed number concentration, and the radius scales as at fixed water content. The dimensions are consistent: has units , so has units . The formula is a third-moment radius; a monodisperse distribution is not required. Fixed per volume is the shallow-cloud approximation, not exact conservation of number per parcel volume during an arbitrarily deep expansion.

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