drop breakup

From Glossary of Meteorology
The disruption of raindrops caused primarily by collisions with other raindrops.

The distribution of drop fragments resulting from collisions is a complicated function of drop sizes, but generally the number of fragments increases with drop size. Thus, larger raindrops are more susceptible to breakup. Drop breakup is a limiting factor to the growth of raindrops by the collision–coalescence process.


Copyright 2024 American Meteorological Society (AMS). For permission to reuse any portion of this work, please contact [email protected]. Any use of material in this work that is determined to be “fair use” under Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act (17 U.S. Code § 107) or that satisfies the conditions specified in Section 108 of the U.S.Copyright Act (17 USC § 108) does not require AMS’s permission. Republication, systematic reproduction, posting in electronic form, such as on a website or in a searchable database, or other uses of this material, except as exempted by the above statement, require written permission or a license from AMS. Additional details are provided in the AMS Copyright Policy statement.