Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics www.atmos-chem-phys.net 1680-7316 1680-7324 8 6 2008 10.5194/acp-8-1689-2008 http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/8/1689/2008/ http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/8/1689/2008/acp-8-1689-2008.html http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/8/1689/2008/acp-8-1689-2008.pdf 1689 1699 2008-03-20 Cirrus, contrails, and ice supersaturated regions in high pressure systems at northern mid latitudes F. Immler franz.immler@dwd.de R. Treffeisen D. Engelbart K. Krüger O. Schrems Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Potsdam, Germany German Meteorological Service (DWD), Richard Aßmann Observatory, Lindenberg, Germany IFM-GEOMAR, Kiel, Germany During the European heat wave summer 2003 with predominant high pressure conditions we performed a detailed study of upper tropospheric humidity and ice particles which yielded striking results concerning the occurrence of ice supersaturated regions (ISSR), cirrus, and contrails. Our study is based on lidar observations and meteorological data obtained at Lindenberg/Germany (52.2° N, 14.1° E) as well as the analysis of the European centre for medium range weather forecast (ECMWF). Cirrus clouds were detected in 55% of the lidar profiles and a large fraction of them were subvisible (optical depth <0.03). Thin ice clouds were particularly ubiquitous in high pressure systems. 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