Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42550910›Full record

ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2026

Highly localized droplet clustering in shallow cumulus clouds.

Birte Thiede, Michael L Larsen, Freja Nordsiek, Oliver Schlenczek, Yewon Kim, Eberhard Bodenschatz, Gholamhossein Bagheri

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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0citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Birte Thiede *Laboratory for Fluid Physics, Pattern Formation and Biocomplexity, Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Göttingen 37077, Germany.ORCID 0000-0003-3248-0910
Michael L Larsen *Department of Physics and Astronomy, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC 29424.ORCID 0000-0001-7969-3863
Freja NordsiekLaboratory for Fluid Physics, Pattern Formation and Biocomplexity, Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Göttingen 37077, Germany.
Oliver SchlenczekLaboratory for Fluid Physics, Pattern Formation and Biocomplexity, Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Göttingen 37077, Germany.ORCID 0000-0001-7247-465X
Yewon KimLaboratory for Fluid Physics, Pattern Formation and Biocomplexity, Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Göttingen 37077, Germany.ORCID 0009-0003-0668-2460
Eberhard BodenschatzLaboratory for Fluid Physics, Pattern Formation and Biocomplexity, Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Göttingen 37077, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-2901-0144
Gholamhossein BagheriLaboratory for Fluid Physics, Pattern Formation and Biocomplexity, Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Göttingen 37077, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-3707-4754

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The size and spatial clustering of water droplets in warm clouds influence cloud evolution and radiation properties and thus are of fundamental importance for the Earth's energy balance and water cycle. Some proposed mechanisms for droplet growth and precipitation initiation in warm clouds require strong droplet clustering. Resolving such clustering on sub-cm scales remains a challenge. The most detailed observations, collected from aircraft, showed weak mm-scale droplet clustering averaged over kilometer scales in stratocumulus clouds. Here we present spatially resolved in-situ holographic measurements from a tethered aerostat, demonstrating that clustering in shallow cumulus clouds is significantly stronger and far more localized than previously thought. These findings challenge current cloud microphysics frameworks, with implications for precipitation initiation and cloud modeling.

Indexed as

cloud holographycloud microphysicsclustering hotspotsdroplet clusteringspatial intermittency

Identifiers

PMID42550910
PMCPMC13462724

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.