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

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 °C to -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.