Publications

An Introduction to Clouds - From the Microscale to Climate

An Introduction to Clouds provides a fundamental understanding of clouds, ranging from cloud microphysics to the large-scale impacts of clouds on climate. On the microscale, phase changes and ice nucleation are covered comprehensively, including aerosol particles and thermodynamics relevant for the formation of clouds and precipitation. At larger scales, cloud dynamics, mid-latitude storms and tropical cyclones are discussed leading to the role of clouds on the hydrological cycle and climate. Each chapter ends with problem sets and multiple-choice questions that can be completed online, and important equations are highlighted in boxes for ease of reference. Combining mathematical formulations with qualitative explanations of underlying concepts, this accessible book requires relatively little previous knowledge, making it ideal for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in atmospheric science, environmental sciences and related disciplines.

Link:
Introduction clouds microscale climate | Atmospheric science and meteorology | Cambridge University Press

All publications

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Garner, N. M., Mahrt, F., Top, J., Tadei, V., Kilchhofer, K., Takahama, S., El Haddad, I., Bell, D. M., Ammann, M. & Alpert, P. A. (2025). Photochemistry of iron-containing secondary organic aerosol is impacted by relative humidity during formation. npj Climate and Atmospheric Science, 8(1), Article 246. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41612-025-01109-6

Mahrt, F., Nikkho, S., Zaks, J., Uppal, G., Lam, A., Ammann, M. & Bertram, A. K. (2025). Surprising Crystallinity of Biomass Burning Secondary Organic Aerosol from Catechol and Nitrate Radical Reactions: Evidence and Possible Implications. Environmental Science and Technology, 59(32), 16923-16932. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5c06834

Kiland, K. J., Hopstock, K. S., Akande , A. A., Johnson, K. N., Li, Y., Mahrt, F., Nikkho, S., Finlayson-Pitts, B. J., Borduas-Dedekind , N., Nizkorodov, S. A. & Bertram, A. K. (2024). Boiling of Catechol Secondary Organic Aerosol When Heated to Mild Temperatures (36–52 °C) Due to Carbon Dioxide Formation and High Viscosity. ACS ES&T Air, 1(6), 547-558. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsestair.4c00027

Garner, N. M., Top, J., Mahrt, F., El Haddad, I., Ammann, M. & Bell, D. M. (2024). Iron-Containing Seed Particles Enhance α-Pinene Secondary Organic Aerosol Mass Concentration and Dimer Formation. Environmental Science & Technology, 58(38), 16984-16993. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.4c07626

Shen, X., Bell, D. M., Coe, H., Hiranuma, N., Mahrt, F., Marsden, N. A., Mohr, C., Murphy, D. M., Saathoff, H., Schneider, J., Wilson, J., Zawadowicz, M. A., Zelenyuk, A., DeMott, P. J., Möhler, O. & Cziczo, D. J. (2024). Measurement report: The Fifth International Workshop on Ice Nucleation phase 1 (FIN-01): intercomparison of single-particle mass spectrometers. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 24(18), 10869-10891. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10869-2024

Ammann, M., Alpert, P. A., Artiglia, L., Bao, F., Bartels-Rausch, T., Flórez Ospina, J. F., Garner, N. M., Iezzi, L., Kilchhofer, K., Laso, A., Longetti, L. & Mahrt, F. (2024). Multiphase Chemistry in the Atmosphere. Chimia, 78(11), 754-761. https://doi.org/10.2533/chimia.2024.754

Nikkho, S., Bai, B., Mahrt, F., Zaks, J., Peng, L., Kiland, K. J., Liu, P. & Bertram, A. K. (2024). Secondary Organic Aerosol from Biomass Burning Phenolic Compounds and Nitrate Radicals can be Highly Viscous over a Wide Relative Humidity Range. Environmental Science & Technology, 58(49), 21702-21715. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.4c06235

Testa, B., Durdina, L., Alpert, P. A., Mahrt, F., Dreimol, C. H., Edebeli, J., Spirig, C., Decker, Z. C. J., Anet, J. & Kanji, Z. A. (2024). Soot aerosols from commercial aviation engines are poor ice-nucleating particles at cirrus cloud temperatures. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 24(7), 4537-4567. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4537-2024

Mahrt, F., Rosch, C., Gao, K., Dreimol, C. H., Zawadowicz, M. A. & Kanji, Z. A. (2023). Physicochemical properties of charcoal aerosols derived from biomass pyrolysis affect their ice-nucleating abilities at cirrus and mixed-phase cloud conditions. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 23(2), 1285-1308. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1285-2023

Kärcher, B., Marcolli, C. & Mahrt, F. (2023). The Role of Mineral Dust Aerosol Particles in Aviation Soot-Cirrus Interactions. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 128(3), Article e2022JD037881. https://doi.org/10.1029/2022JD037881

Kiland, K. J., Mahrt, F., Peng, L., Nikkho, S., Zaks, J., Crescenzo, G. V. & Bertram, A. K. (2023). Viscosity, Glass Formation, and Mixing Times within Secondary Organic Aerosol from Biomass Burning Phenolics. ACS Earth and Space Chemistry, 7(7), 1388-1400. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsearthspacechem.3c00039

Ohno, P. E., Wang, J., Mahrt, F., Varelas, J. G., Aruffo, E., Ye, J., Qin, Y., Kiland, K. J., Bertram, A. K., Thomson, R. J. & Martin, S. T. (2022). Gas-Particle Uptake and Hygroscopic Growth by Organosulfate Particles. ACS Earth and Space Chemistry, 6(10), 2481-2490. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsearthspacechem.2c00195

Mahrt, F., Peng, L., Zaks, J., Huang, Y., Ohno, P. E., Smith, N. R., Gregson, F. K. A., Qin, Y., Faiola, C. L., Martin, S. T., Nizkorodov, S. A., Ammann, M. & Bertram, A. K. (2022). Not all types of secondary organic aerosol mix: two phases observed when mixing different secondary organic aerosol types. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 22(20), 13783-13796. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-13783-2022

Mahrt, F., Huang, Y., Zaks, J., Devi, A., Peng, L., Ohno, P. E., Qin, Y. M., Martin, S. T., Ammann, M. & Bertram, A. K. (2022). Phase Behavior of Internal Mixtures of Hydrocarbon-like Primary Organic Aerosol and Secondary Aerosol Based on Their Differences in Oxygen-to-Carbon Ratios. Environmental Science & Technology, 56(7), 3960-3973. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.1c07691

Xu, S., Mahrt, F., Gregson, F. K. A. & Bertram, A. K. (2022). Possible Effects of Ozone Chemistry on the Phase Behavior of Skin Oil and Cooking Oil Films and Particles Indoors. ACS Earth and Space Chemistry, 6(7), 1836-1845. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsearthspacechem.2c00092

Baboomian, V. J., Crescenzo, G. V., Huang, Y., Mahrt, F., Shiraiwa, M., Bertram, A. K. & Nizkorodov, S. A. (2022). Sunlight can convert atmospheric aerosols into a glassy solid state and modify their environmental impacts. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), 119(43), Article e2208121119. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2208121119

Huang, Y., Mahrt, F., Xu, S., Shiraiwa, M., Zuend, A. & Bertram, A. K. (2021). Coexistence of three liquid phases in individual atmospheric aerosol particles. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), 118(16), Article e2102512118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2102512118

Garofalo, L. A., He, Y., Jathar, S. H., Pierce, J. R., Fredrickson, C. D., Palm, B. B., Thornton, J. A., Mahrt, F., Crescenzo, G. V., Bertram, A. K., Draper, D. C., Fry, J. L., Orlando, J., Zhang, X. & Farmer, D. K. (2021). Heterogeneous Nucleation Drives Particle Size Segregation in Sequential Ozone and Nitrate Radical Oxidation of Catechol. Environmental Science & Technology, 55(23), 15637-15645. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.1c02984

Mahrt, F., Newman, E., Huang, Y., Ammann, M. & Bertram, A. K. (2021). Phase Behavior of Hydrocarbon-like Primary Organic Aerosol and Secondary Organic Aerosol Proxies Based on Their Elemental Oxygen-to-Carbon Ratio. Environmental Science & Technology, 55(18), 12202-12214. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.1c02697

Kärcher, B., Mahrt, F. & Marcolli, C. (2021). Process-oriented analysis of aircraft soot-cirrus interactions constrains the climate impact of aviation. Communications Earth & Environment, 2(1), Article 113. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00175-x

Marcolli, C., Mahrt, F. & Kärcher, B. (2021). Soot PCF: Pore condensation and freezing framework for soot aggregates. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 21(10), 7791-7843. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-7791-2021

Kilchhofer, K., Mahrt, F. & Kanji, Z. A. (2021). The Role of Cloud Processing for the Ice Nucleating Ability of Organic Aerosol and Coal Fly Ash Particles. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 126(10), Article e2020JD033338. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JD033338

Mahrt, F., Alpert, P. A., Dou, J., Grönquist, P., Arroyo, P. C., Ammann, M., Lohmann, U. & Kanji, Z. A. (2020). Aging induced changes in ice nucleation activity of combustion aerosol as determined by near edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy. Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts, 22(4), 895-907. https://doi.org/10.1039/c9em00525k

Lohmann, U., Friebel, F., Kanji, Z. A., Mahrt, F., Mensah, A. A. & Neubauer, D. (2020). Future warming exacerbated by aged-soot effect on cloud formation. Nature Geoscience, 13(10), 674-680. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-020-0631-0

Zawadowicz, M. A., Lance, S., Jayne, J. T., Croteau, P., Worsnop, D. R., Mahrt, F., Leisner, T. & Cziczo, D. J. (2020). Quantifying and improving the optical performance of the laser ablation aerosol particle time of flight mass spectrometer (LAAPToF) instrument. Aerosol Science and Technology, 54(7), 761-771. https://doi.org/10.1080/02786826.2020.1724867

Mahrt, F., Kilchhofer, K., Marcolli, C., Grönquist, P., David, R. O., Rösch, M., Lohmann, U. & Kanji, Z. A. (2020). The Impact of Cloud Processing on the Ice Nucleation Abilities of Soot Particles at Cirrus Temperatures. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 125(3), Article e2019JD030922. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JD030922

O. David, R., Fahrni, J., Marcolli, C., Mahrt, F., Brühwiler, D. & A. Kanji, Z. (2020). The role of contact angle and pore width on pore condensation and freezing. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 20(15), 9419-9440. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-9419-2020

Mahrt, F., Wieder, J., Dietlicher, R., Smith, H. R., Stopford, C. & Kanji, Z. A. (2019). A high-speed particle phase discriminator (PPD-HS) for the classification of airborne particles, as tested in a continuous flow diffusion chamber. Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 12(6), 3183-3208. https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-3183-2019

David, R. O., Marcolli, C., Fahrni, J., Qiu, Y., Perez Sirkin, Y. A., Molinero, V., Mahrt, F., Brühwiler, D., Lohmann, U. & Kanji, Z. A. (2019). Pore condensation and freezing is responsible for ice formation below water saturation for porous particles. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), 116(17), 8184-8189. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1813647116

Mahrt, F., Marcolli, C., David, R. O., Grönquist, P., Barthazy Meier, E. J., Lohmann, U. & Kanji, Z. A. (2018). Ice nucleation abilities of soot particles determined with the Horizontal Ice Nucleation Chamber. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 18(18), 13363-13392. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-13363-2018

Lohmann, U., Lüönd, F. & Mahrt, F. (2016). An Introduction to Clouds: From the Microscale to Climate. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139087513

Revised 13.11.2025

Fabian Mahrt