Fragmentation of ice particles: laboratory experiments on graupel–graupel and graupel–snowflake collisions

<p>Until now, the processes involved in secondary ice production which generate high concentrations of ice crystals in clouds have been poorly understood. However, collisions that involve rimed ice particles or crystal aggregates have the potential to effectively produce secondary ice from the...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: P. Grzegorczyk, S. Yadav, F. Zanger, A. Theis, S. K. Mitra, S. Borrmann, M. Szakáll
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Copernicus Publications 2023-10-01
Series:Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
Online Access:https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/23/13505/2023/acp-23-13505-2023.pdf
_version_ 1797649927173570560
author P. Grzegorczyk
P. Grzegorczyk
S. Yadav
F. Zanger
A. Theis
S. K. Mitra
S. Borrmann
S. Borrmann
M. Szakáll
author_facet P. Grzegorczyk
P. Grzegorczyk
S. Yadav
F. Zanger
A. Theis
S. K. Mitra
S. Borrmann
S. Borrmann
M. Szakáll
author_sort P. Grzegorczyk
collection DOAJ
description <p>Until now, the processes involved in secondary ice production which generate high concentrations of ice crystals in clouds have been poorly understood. However, collisions that involve rimed ice particles or crystal aggregates have the potential to effectively produce secondary ice from their fragmentation. Unfortunately, there have only been a few laboratory studies on ice–ice collision so far, resulting in an inaccurate representation of this process in microphysical schemes. To address this issue, experiments were conducted at the wind tunnel laboratory of the Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, on graupel–graupel and graupel–snowflake collisions under still-air conditions at <span class="inline-formula">−</span>15 <span class="inline-formula"><sup>∘</sup>C</span> and water supersaturation. The particles were synthetically generated within a cold room through two distinct methods: by riming and vapor deposition for graupel with diameters of 2 and 4 <span class="inline-formula">mm</span> and by manually sticking vapor-grown ice which was generated above a warm bath to form snowflakes with a diameter of 10 <span class="inline-formula">mm</span>. All fragments resulting from graupel–graupel collisions were collected and investigated by means of a digital optical microscope, while fragments from graupel–snowflake collisions were observed and recorded instantly after collision using a holographic instrument. From these experiments, distributions were obtained for fragment sizes, cross-sectional areas, and aspect ratios. The results showed a higher number of fragments at lower kinetic energy compared to those presented in the literature. A total of 150 to 600 fragments were observed for graupel–graupel with dendrites collisions, as well as 70 to 500 fragments for graupel–snowflake collisions for collision kinetic energies between <span class="inline-formula">10<sup>−7</sup></span> and <span class="inline-formula">10<sup>−5</sup></span> <span class="inline-formula">J</span>. Parameterizations for fragment size distributions are provided with a mode at 75 <span class="inline-formula">µm</span> for graupel–graupel with dendrites collisions and at 400 <span class="inline-formula">µm</span> for graupel–snowflake collisions. We also propose new coefficients fitted on our experiments to parameterize the number of fragments generated by collisions based on the theoretical formulation of <span class="cit" id="xref_text.1"><a href="#bib1.bibx29">Phillips et al.</a> (<a href="#bib1.bibx29">2017</a>)</span>. These results can be used to improve the representation of ice collision breakup in microphysical schemes.</p>
first_indexed 2024-03-11T15:54:11Z
format Article
id doaj.art-9d66f73f6ebd45ad9cdf6805ca0faf03
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 1680-7316
1680-7324
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-11T15:54:11Z
publishDate 2023-10-01
publisher Copernicus Publications
record_format Article
series Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
spelling doaj.art-9d66f73f6ebd45ad9cdf6805ca0faf032023-10-25T11:44:17ZengCopernicus PublicationsAtmospheric Chemistry and Physics1680-73161680-73242023-10-0123135051352110.5194/acp-23-13505-2023Fragmentation of ice particles: laboratory experiments on graupel–graupel and graupel–snowflake collisionsP. Grzegorczyk0P. Grzegorczyk1S. Yadav2F. Zanger3A. Theis4S. K. Mitra5S. Borrmann6S. Borrmann7M. Szakáll8Institute for Atmospheric Physics, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, GermanyLaboratoire de Météorologie Physique (UMR6016)/UCA/CNRS, Aubière, FranceInstitute for Atmospheric Physics, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, GermanyInstitute for Atmospheric Physics, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, GermanyParticle Chemistry Department, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz, GermanyInstitute for Atmospheric Physics, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, GermanyInstitute for Atmospheric Physics, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, GermanyParticle Chemistry Department, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz, GermanyInstitute for Atmospheric Physics, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany<p>Until now, the processes involved in secondary ice production which generate high concentrations of ice crystals in clouds have been poorly understood. However, collisions that involve rimed ice particles or crystal aggregates have the potential to effectively produce secondary ice from their fragmentation. Unfortunately, there have only been a few laboratory studies on ice–ice collision so far, resulting in an inaccurate representation of this process in microphysical schemes. To address this issue, experiments were conducted at the wind tunnel laboratory of the Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, on graupel–graupel and graupel–snowflake collisions under still-air conditions at <span class="inline-formula">−</span>15 <span class="inline-formula"><sup>∘</sup>C</span> and water supersaturation. The particles were synthetically generated within a cold room through two distinct methods: by riming and vapor deposition for graupel with diameters of 2 and 4 <span class="inline-formula">mm</span> and by manually sticking vapor-grown ice which was generated above a warm bath to form snowflakes with a diameter of 10 <span class="inline-formula">mm</span>. All fragments resulting from graupel–graupel collisions were collected and investigated by means of a digital optical microscope, while fragments from graupel–snowflake collisions were observed and recorded instantly after collision using a holographic instrument. From these experiments, distributions were obtained for fragment sizes, cross-sectional areas, and aspect ratios. The results showed a higher number of fragments at lower kinetic energy compared to those presented in the literature. A total of 150 to 600 fragments were observed for graupel–graupel with dendrites collisions, as well as 70 to 500 fragments for graupel–snowflake collisions for collision kinetic energies between <span class="inline-formula">10<sup>−7</sup></span> and <span class="inline-formula">10<sup>−5</sup></span> <span class="inline-formula">J</span>. Parameterizations for fragment size distributions are provided with a mode at 75 <span class="inline-formula">µm</span> for graupel–graupel with dendrites collisions and at 400 <span class="inline-formula">µm</span> for graupel–snowflake collisions. We also propose new coefficients fitted on our experiments to parameterize the number of fragments generated by collisions based on the theoretical formulation of <span class="cit" id="xref_text.1"><a href="#bib1.bibx29">Phillips et al.</a> (<a href="#bib1.bibx29">2017</a>)</span>. These results can be used to improve the representation of ice collision breakup in microphysical schemes.</p>https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/23/13505/2023/acp-23-13505-2023.pdf
spellingShingle P. Grzegorczyk
P. Grzegorczyk
S. Yadav
F. Zanger
A. Theis
S. K. Mitra
S. Borrmann
S. Borrmann
M. Szakáll
Fragmentation of ice particles: laboratory experiments on graupel–graupel and graupel–snowflake collisions
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
title Fragmentation of ice particles: laboratory experiments on graupel–graupel and graupel–snowflake collisions
title_full Fragmentation of ice particles: laboratory experiments on graupel–graupel and graupel–snowflake collisions
title_fullStr Fragmentation of ice particles: laboratory experiments on graupel–graupel and graupel–snowflake collisions
title_full_unstemmed Fragmentation of ice particles: laboratory experiments on graupel–graupel and graupel–snowflake collisions
title_short Fragmentation of ice particles: laboratory experiments on graupel–graupel and graupel–snowflake collisions
title_sort fragmentation of ice particles laboratory experiments on graupel graupel and graupel snowflake collisions
url https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/23/13505/2023/acp-23-13505-2023.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT pgrzegorczyk fragmentationoficeparticleslaboratoryexperimentsongraupelgraupelandgraupelsnowflakecollisions
AT pgrzegorczyk fragmentationoficeparticleslaboratoryexperimentsongraupelgraupelandgraupelsnowflakecollisions
AT syadav fragmentationoficeparticleslaboratoryexperimentsongraupelgraupelandgraupelsnowflakecollisions
AT fzanger fragmentationoficeparticleslaboratoryexperimentsongraupelgraupelandgraupelsnowflakecollisions
AT atheis fragmentationoficeparticleslaboratoryexperimentsongraupelgraupelandgraupelsnowflakecollisions
AT skmitra fragmentationoficeparticleslaboratoryexperimentsongraupelgraupelandgraupelsnowflakecollisions
AT sborrmann fragmentationoficeparticleslaboratoryexperimentsongraupelgraupelandgraupelsnowflakecollisions
AT sborrmann fragmentationoficeparticleslaboratoryexperimentsongraupelgraupelandgraupelsnowflakecollisions
AT mszakall fragmentationoficeparticleslaboratoryexperimentsongraupelgraupelandgraupelsnowflakecollisions