Remote marine regions are characterized by a high degree of cloud cover that greatly impacts Earth's radiative budget. It is highly relevant for climate projections to represent the ice formation in these clouds. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the sources of ice-nucleating particles (INPs) that enable primary ice formation. Here, we report polysaccharides produced by four different aquatic eukaryotic microorganisms (, , , ) as responsible ice-nucleating macromolecules (INMs) in these samples originating from the marine biosphere. By deriving a classical nucleation theory-based parametrization of these polysaccharidic INMs and applying it to global model simulations, a comparison to currently available marine atmospheric INP observations demonstrates a 44% contribution of polysaccharides to the total INPs of marine origin within -15 to -20 °C. The results highlight the relevance of biological INMs as part of the INP population in remote marine regions.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.4c08014 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Polysaccharides─Important Constituents of Ice-Nucleating Particles of Marine Origin.
Environ Sci Technol
March 2025
Atmospheric Chemistry Department (ACD), Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS), Leipzig 04318, Germany.
Remote marine regions are characterized by a high degree of cloud cover that greatly impacts Earth's radiative budget. It is highly relevant for climate projections to represent the ice formation in these clouds. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the sources of ice-nucleating particles (INPs) that enable primary ice formation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicrofluidics for the biological analysis of atmospheric ice-nucleating particles: Perspectives and challenges.
Biomicrofluidics
January 2025
School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, United Kingdom.
Atmospheric ice-nucleating particles (INPs) make up a vanishingly small proportion of atmospheric aerosol but are key to triggering the freezing of supercooled liquid water droplets, altering the lifetime and radiative properties of clouds and having a substantial impact on weather and climate. However, INPs are notoriously difficult to model due to a lack of information on their global sources, sinks, concentrations, and activity, necessitating the development of new instrumentation for quantifying and characterizing INPs in a rapid and automated manner. Microfluidic technology has been increasingly adopted by ice nucleation research groups in recent years as a means of performing droplet freezing analysis of INPs, enabling the measurement of hundreds or thousands of droplets per experiment at temperatures down to the homogeneous freezing of water.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA comprehensive characterisation of natural aerosol sources in the high Arctic during the onset of sea ice melt.
Faraday Discuss
March 2025
Department of Environmental Science, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.
The interactions between aerosols and clouds are still one of the largest sources of uncertainty in quantifying anthropogenic radiative forcing. To reduce this uncertainty, we must first determine the baseline natural aerosol loading for different environments. In the pristine and hardly accessible polar regions, the exact nature of local aerosol sources remains poorly understood.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTransport of continental particulate over the Labrador Sea and entrainment are important pathways for glaciation of remote marine clouds.
Faraday Discuss
March 2025
School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK.
Marine Arctic clouds greatly influence the radiative balance across the Arctic region and their effectiveness at scattering radiation changes considerably depending on cloud phase. Glaciation of these clouds relies on the presence of ice nucleating particles, which are often limited in number, so often clouds may be liquid even at temperatures well below 0 °C. As the Arctic region warms, cloud feedbacks may accelerate change or lessen absorbed solar radiation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTerrestrial and marine sources of ice nucleating particles in the Eurasian Arctic.
Faraday Discuss
February 2025
Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, ETH Zurich, Switzerland.
Ice nucleating particles (INPs) catalyze primary ice formation in Arctic low-level mixed-phase clouds, influencing their persistence and radiative properties. Knowledge of the abundance and sources of INP over the remote Arctic Ocean is scarce due to limited data coverage, particularly in the Eurasian Arctic. This study presents summertime measurements of INP concentrations in seawater, fog water and air from the ship-based Arctic Century Expedition, exploring the Barents, Kara, and Laptev Seas, and the adjacent high Arctic islands and archipelagos in August and September 2021.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!