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Vaughan Phillips

Research in the Area of Clouds, Aerosols and Climate

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Secondary ice production during the break-up of freezing water drops on impact with ice particles

Author

  • Rachel L. James
  • Vaughan T.J. Phillips
  • Paul J. Connolly

Summary, in English

We provide the first dedicated laboratory study of collisions of supercooled water drops with ice particles as a secondary ice production mechanism. We experimentally investigated collisions of supercooled water drops (∼5 mm in diameter) with ice particles of a similar size (∼6 mm in diameter) placed on a glass slide at temperatures >-12 °C. Our results showed that secondary drops were generated during both the spreading and retraction phase of the supercooled water drop impact. The secondary drops generated during the spreading phase were emitted too fast to quantify. However, quantification of the secondary drops generated during the retraction phase with diameters >0.1 mm showed that 5-10 secondary drops formed per collision, with approximately 30 % of the secondary drops freezing over a temperature range between-4 and-12 ° C. Our results suggest that this secondary ice production mechanism may be significant for ice formation in atmospheric clouds containing large supercooled drops and ice particles.

Department/s

  • Dept of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science
  • MERGE: ModElling the Regional and Global Earth system

Publishing year

2021-12-21

Language

English

Pages

18519-18530

Publication/Series

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics

Volume

21

Issue

24

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Copernicus GmbH

Topic

  • Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1680-7316