Revisiting the differential freezing nucleus spectra derived from drop-freezing experiments: methods of calculation, applications, and confidence limits

The differential nucleus concentration defined in Vali (1971) is re-examined and methods are given for its application. The purpose of this document is to facilitate the use of differential spectra in describing the results of drop freezing, or similar, experiments and to thereby provide additional insights into the significance of the measurements. The additive nature of differential concentrations is used to show how the background contribution can be accounted for in the measurements. A method is presented to evaluate the confidence limits of the spectra derived from given sets of measurements.