Dataset Information

Sea spray aerosol as a unique source of ice nucleating particles.

ABSTRACT: Ice nucleating particles (INPs) are vital for ice initiation in, and precipitation from, mixed-phase clouds. A source of INPs from oceans within sea spray aerosol (SSA) emissions has been suggested in previous studies but remained unconfirmed. Here, we show that INPs are emitted using real wave breaking in a laboratory flume to produce SSA. The number concentrations of INPs from laboratory-generated SSA, when normalized to typical total aerosol number concentrations in the marine boundary layer, agree well with measurements from diverse regions over the oceans. Data in the present study are also in accord with previously published INP measurements made over remote ocean regions. INP number concentrations active within liquid water droplets increase exponentially in number with a decrease in temperature below 0 °C, averaging an order of magnitude increase per 5 °C interval. The plausibility of a strong increase in SSA INP emissions in association with phytoplankton blooms is also shown in laboratory simulations. Nevertheless, INP number concentrations, or active site densities approximated using "dry" geometric SSA surface areas, are a few orders of magnitude lower than corresponding concentrations or site densities in the surface boundary layer over continental regions. These findings have important implications for cloud radiative forcing and precipitation within low-level and midlevel marine clouds unaffected by continental INP sources, such as may occur over the Southern Ocean.

SUBMITTER: DeMott PJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4889344 | biostudies-literature | 2016 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Sea spray aerosol as a unique source of ice nucleating particles.

DeMott Paul J PJ Hill Thomas C J TC McCluskey Christina S CS Prather Kimberly A KA Collins Douglas B DB Sullivan Ryan C RC Ruppel Matthew J MJ Mason Ryan H RH Irish Victoria E VE Lee Taehyoung T Hwang Chung Yeon CY Rhee Tae Siek TS Snider Jefferson R JR McMeeking Gavin R GR Dhaniyala Suresh S Lewis Ernie R ER Wentzell Jeremy J B JJ Abbatt Jonathan J Lee Christopher C Sultana Camille M CM Ault Andrew P AP Axson Jessica L JL Diaz Martinez Myrelis M Venero Ingrid I Santos-Figueroa Gilmarie G Stokes M Dale MD Deane Grant B GB Mayol-Bracero Olga L OL Grassian Vicki H VH Bertram Timothy H TH Bertram Allan K AK Moffett Bruce F BF Franc Gary D GD

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20151222 21

Ice nucleating particles (INPs) are vital for ice initiation in, and precipitation from, mixed-phase clouds. A source of INPs from oceans within sea spray aerosol (SSA) emissions has been suggested in previous studies but remained unconfirmed. Here, we show that INPs are emitted using real wave breaking in a laboratory flume to produce SSA. The number concentrations of INPs from laboratory-generated SSA, when normalized to typical total aerosol number concentrations in the marine boundary layer, ...[more]

PMID: 26699469

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Project description:Airborne bacteria that nucleate ice at relatively warm temperatures (>-10°C) can interact with cloud water droplets, affecting the formation of ice in clouds and the residency time of the cells in the atmosphere. We sampled 65 precipitation events in southeastern Louisiana over 2 years to examine the effect of season, meteorological conditions, storm type, and ecoregion source on the concentration and type of ice-nucleating particles (INPs) deposited. INPs sensitive to heat treatment were inferred to be biological in origin, and the highest concentrations of biological INPs (?16,000 INPs liter-1 active at ?-10°C) were observed in snow and sleet samples from wintertime nimbostratus clouds with cloud top temperatures as warm as -7°C. Statistical analysis revealed three temperature classes of biological INPs (INPs active from -5 to -10°C, -11 to -12°C, and -13 to -14°C) and one temperature class of INPs that were sensitive to lysozyme (i.e., bacterial INPs, active from -5 to -10°C). Significant correlations between the INP data and abundances of taxa in the Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, and unclassified bacterial divisions implied that certain members of these phyla may possess the ice nucleation phenotype. The interrelation between the INP classes and fluorescent dissolved organic matter, major ion concentrations (Na+, Cl-, SO4 2-, and NO3 -), and backward air mass trajectories indicated that the highest concentrations of INPs were sourced from high-latitude North American and Asian continental environments, whereas the lowest values were observed when air was sourced from marine ecoregions. The intra- and extracontinental regions identified as sources of biological INPs in precipitation deposited in the southeastern United States suggests that these bioaerosols can disperse and affect meteorological conditions thousands of kilometers from their terrestrial points of origin.IMPORTANCE The particles most effective at inducing the freezing of water in the atmosphere are microbiological in origin; however, information on the species harboring this phenotype, their environmental distribution, and ecological sources are very limited. Analysis of precipitation collected over 2 years in Louisiana showed that INPs active at the warmest temperatures were sourced from terrestrial ecosystems and displayed behaviors that implicated specific bacterial taxa as the source of the ice nucleation activity. The abundance of biological INPs was highest in precipitation from winter storms and implied that their in-cloud concentrations were sufficient to affect the formation of ice and precipitation in nimbostratus clouds.

Dataset Information

Sea spray aerosol as a unique source of ice nucleating particles.

Publications

Sea spray aerosol as a unique source of ice nucleating particles.

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