What occurs when supercooled water collides with ice particles?

When supercooled water collides with ice particles, aggregation occurs. This process involves the fusion of supercooled droplets with existing ice particles, leading to the growth of larger ice crystals. Supercooled water exists in a liquid state at temperatures below freezing, which makes it capable of remaining liquid despite being below 0°C. When it encounters ice particles, the supercooled droplets can freeze upon contact, effectively adding mass to the ice.

Aggregation is a critical process in the formation of various types of precipitation, such as snow. As these collisions occur repeatedly, they can result in the development of larger snowflakes or ice pellets, depending on the atmospheric conditions. This phenomenon is essential for understanding how precipitation forms and evolves in cloud systems.

The other processes such as deposition and coalescence involve different mechanisms. Deposition refers to how water vapor changes directly into ice without becoming liquid first, while coalescence involves liquid droplets merging into larger droplets, typically occurring in warm clouds, which does not apply to the collision of supercooled water with ice particles.