We discuss the possibility that particles of a crystal cloud can take a preferred orientation with respect to wind direction under the action of aerodynamic forces in the atmosphere. It is shown theoretically that the preferred orientation can be caused by wind speed pulsations and by the forces applied to a particle falling due to gravity in the presence of wind speed gradient. The theoretical estimate of the parameter of the function of particle orientation distribution over azimuth angles well agrees with its experimental estimate from the backscattering phase matrices of cirrus clouds obtained from data of polarization lidar measurements.

Date Published: 1 November 2006
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 6522, Thirteenth Joint International Symposium on Atmospheric and Ocean Optics/ Atmospheric Physics, 65221G (1 November 2006); doi: 10.1117/12.723186

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 6522:
Thirteenth Joint International Symposium on Atmospheric and Ocean Optics/ Atmospheric Physics
Gennadii G. Matvienko; Victor A. Banakh, Editor(s)