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Ice nucleation by mineral dusts, fungal spores, and bacteria : implications for climate and the long-distance transport of these aerosols in the atmosphere

University of British Columbia

In the atmosphere, ice can form on solid aerosol particles called ice nuclei. This research focuses on the ice nucleation properties of mineral dusts and biological particles. The motivation for this research is two-fold. First, ice nucleation on these aerosols may influence cloud formation, cloud reflectivity and precipitation patterns in what is an indirect climate effect. This effect is one of the largest uncertainties in current climate models. Second, ice nucleation may be an important removal mechanism for these particles from the atmosphere and may influence their long-distance transport. Currently, ice nucleation is represented in a simplistic manner or not at all in models used to predict the long-distance transport of aerosols. A temperature and humidity controlled flow cell coupled to an optical microscope was used to study the ice nucleation properties of four mineral dusts, eighteen fungal spores, and six bacteria. It was found that acidic coatings reduce the ice nucleating ability of the mineral dusts. The fungal spores showed a wide range of ice nucleating properties and there was no inherent difference in the ice nucleation ability of spores belonging to different taxonomic groups. Four of the bacteria studied were very poor ice nuclei and the fifth bacterium was an excellent ice nucleus. The results from the flow cell experiments on fungal spores were used to describe ice nucleation in two modeling studies that simulated atmospheric transport. One study found that a significant fraction of large fungal spores (20 micrometers in diameter) can reach high altitudes where they could act as ice nuclei. The other study focused on smaller spores (3 to 8 micrometers) and found that ice nucleation on these spores effects their long-distance transport to polar and marine regions. The laboratory results were used to show that mineral dusts are more important than the fungal spores or bacteria that were studied on a global annual scale. These results can be used to improve parameterizations of ice nucleation on mineral dusts and biological particles in future modeling studies investigating the indirect effect of aerosols on climate or the long-distance transport of aerosols in the atmosphere.

Text

2013-10-10

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/45241

Chemistry

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/