The RAM-CINC Field Campaign: Drone Measurements of Thermodynamics and Ice Nucleating Particles in the Tropical Atlantic’s Cold Pools

Tropical convective clouds are a critical component of the Earth system. As these As rain falls from these clouds, it evaporates below cloud base and produces convective cold pools. Cold pools are an important component of the atmospheric system, as they influence surface fluxes, impact the spatial distribution of aerosol, including ice nucleating particles (INP), and can initiate new convection. During summer 2025, as part of the Freshwater Fluxes over the Ocean I – Evaporative Fluxes (FreshOcean) deployment, the RAM-CINC (Relating Atlantic Marine Convection, Ice Nuclei and Cold pools) campaign deployed uncrewed aerial systems (UAS; also known as small drones) aboard the R/V Meteor in the tropical eastern Atlantic Ocean. In RAM-CINC, we characterized properties around convective cold pools, including INPs, bioaerosols, and the thermodynamic environment under quiescent and cold-pool-modified conditions. RAM-CINC’s observations are unique and able to elucidate the complex relationship between the near-surface and marine boundary layer in the small convective cold pool features. 

 

In this presentation, we will give an overview of our field measurements, including novel above-the-surface in situ measurements of several tropical convective cold pools that vary in strength and lifecycle stage. Because our drone measurements were targeted observations before and after cold pool passage, we will demonstrate the impacts of convective cold pool passage both at ship level and above the surface layer. Initial findings indicate maximum changes in temperature of the cold pools from near zero to -1.2 K. Further, we will show aerosol measurements, including characterization of DNA for bioaerosol particles, aerosol concentrations and size distributions, and INPs, from both the drone flights, the surface of the ship, the ocean surface layer, and rainwater, elucidating the link between the near-surface and broader marine boundary layer.