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Sea spray aerosol contains ice-nucleating particles (INPs), which affect the formation and properties of clouds. Here, we show that aerosols emitted from fast-growing marine phytoplankton produce effective immersion INPs, which nucleate at temperatures significantly warmer than the atmospheric homogeneous freezing (−38.0 ∘C) of pure water. Aerosol sampled over phytoplankton cultures grown in a Marine Aerosol Reference Tank (MART) induced nucleation and freezing at temperatures as high as −15.0 ∘C during exponential phytoplankton growth. This was observed in monospecific cultures representative of two major groups of phytoplankton, namely a cyanobacterium (Synechococcus elongatus) and a diatom (Thalassiosira weissflogii). Ice nucleation occurred at colder temperatures (−28.5 ∘C and below), which were not different from the freezing temperatures of procedural blanks, when the cultures were in the stationary or death phases of growth. Ice nucleation at warmer temperatures was associated with relatively high values of the maximum quantum yield of photosystem II (ΦPSII), an indicator of the physiological status of phytoplankton. High values of ΦPSII indicate the presence of cells with efficient photochemistry and greater potential for photosynthesis. For comparison, field measurements in the North Atlantic Ocean showed that high net growth rates of natural phytoplankton assemblages were associated with marine aerosol that acted as effective immersion INPs at relatively warm temperatures. Data were collected over 4 d at a sampling station maintained in the same water mass as the water column stabilized after deep mixing by a storm. Phytoplankton biomass and net phytoplankton growth rate (0.56 d−1) were greatest over the 24 h preceding the warmest mean ice nucleation temperature (−25.5 ∘C). Collectively, our laboratory and field observations indicate that phytoplankton physiological status is a useful predictor of effective INPs and more reliable than biomass or taxonomic affiliation. Ocean regions associated with fast phytoplankton growth, such as the North Atlantic during the annual spring bloom, may be significant sources of atmospheric INPs.
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Cultivable halotolerant ice-nucleating bacteria and fungi in coastal precipitation
Abstract. Ice-nucleating particles (INPs) represent a rare subset of aerosol particlesthat initiate cloud droplet freezing at temperatures above the homogenousfreezing point of water (−38 ∘C). Considering that the oceancovers 71 % of the Earth's surface and represents a large potential sourceof INPs, it is imperative that the identities, properties and relativeemissions of ocean INPs become better understood. However, the specificunderlying drivers of marine INP emissions remain largely unknown due tolimited observations and the challenges associated with isolating rare INPs. Bygenerating isolated nascent sea spray aerosol (SSA) over a range ofbiological conditions, mesocosm studies have shown that marine microbes cancontribute to INPs. Here, we identify 14 (30 %) cultivable halotolerantice-nucleating microbes and fungi among 47 total isolates recovered fromprecipitation and aerosol samples collected in coastal air in southernCalifornia. Ice-nucleating (IN) isolates collected in coastal air were nucleated ice fromextremely warm to moderate freezing temperatures (−2.3 to −18 ∘C). While some Gammaproteobacteria and fungi are known to nucleate ice attemperatures as high as −2 ∘C, Brevibacterium sp. is the first Actinobacteriafound to be capable of ice nucleation at a relatively high freezingtemperature (−2.3 ∘C). Air mass trajectory analysis demonstratesthat marine aerosol sources were dominant during all sampling periods, andphylogenetic analysis indicates that at least 2 of the 14 IN isolates areclosely related to marine taxa. Moreover, results from cell-washingexperiments demonstrate that most IN isolates maintained freezing activityin the absence of nutrients and cell growth media. This study supportsprevious studies that implicated microbes as a potential source of marineINPs, and it additionally demonstrates links between precipitation, marineaerosol and IN microbes.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1801971
- PAR ID:
- 10232190
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
- Volume:
- 21
- Issue:
- 11
- ISSN:
- 1680-7324
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 9031 to 9045
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract Oceans are, generally, relatively weak sources of ice nucleating particles (INPs). Thus, dust transported from terrestrial regions can dominate atmospheric INP concentrations even in remote marine regions. Studies of ocean‐emitted INPs have focused upon sea spray aerosols containing biogenic species. Even though large concentrations of dust are transported over marine regions, resuspended dust has never been explicitly considered as another possible source of ocean‐emitted INPs. Current models assume that deposited dust is not re‐emitted from surface waters. Our laboratory studies of aerosol particles produced from coastal seawater and synthetic seawater doped with dust show that dust can indeed be ejected from water during bubble bursting. INP concentration measurements show these ejected dust particles retain ice nucleating activity. Doping synthetic seawater to simulate a strong dust deposition event produced INPs active at temperatures colder than −13°C and INP concentrations 1 to 2 orders of magnitude greater than either lab sea spray or marine boundary layer measurements. The relevance of these laboratory findings is highlighted by single‐particle composition measurements along the Californian coast where at least 9% of dust particles were mixed with sea salt. Additionally, global modeling studies show that resuspension of dust from the ocean could exert the most impact over the Southern Ocean, where ocean‐emitted INPs are thought to dominate atmospheric INP populations. More work characterizing the factors governing the resuspension of dust particles is required to understand the potential impact upon clouds.more » « less
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Ice-nucleating proteins (INPs) catalyze ice formation at high subzero temperatures, with major biological and environmental implications. While bacterial INPs have been structurally characterized, their counterparts in other organisms remain unknown. Here, we identify a new class of efficient INPs in fungi. These proteins are membrane-free, adopt β-solenoid folds, and multimerize to form large ice-binding surfaces, showing mechanistic parallels with bacterial INPs. Structural modeling, sequence analysis, and functional assays show they are encoded by orthologs of the bacterial InaZ gene, likely acquired via horizontal gene transfer. Our results demonstrate that distinct lineages have independently converged on a common molecular strategy to overcome the energetic barriers of ice formation. The discovery of cell-free INPs provides tools for freezing applications and reveals biophysical constraints on nucleation across life.more » « less
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null (Ed.)Abstract. Ice-nucleating particles (INPs) are efficiently removed fromclouds through precipitation, a convenience of nature for the study of thesevery rare particles that influence multiple climate-relevant cloudproperties including ice crystal concentrations, size distributions andphase-partitioning processes. INPs suspended in precipitation can be used toestimate in-cloud INP concentrations and to infer their originalcomposition. Offline droplet assays are commonly used to measure INPconcentrations in precipitation samples. Heat and filtration treatmentsare also used to probe INP composition and size ranges. Many previousstudies report storing samples prior to INP analyses, but little is knownabout the effects of storage on INP concentration or their sensitivity totreatments. Here, through a study of 15 precipitation samples collected at acoastal location in La Jolla, CA, USA, we found INP concentration changes upto > 1 order of magnitude caused by storage to concentrations ofINPs with warm to moderate freezing temperatures (−7 to−19 ∘C). We compared four conditions: (1) storage at roomtemperature (+21–23 ∘C), (2) storage at +4 ∘C, (3) storage at −20 ∘C and (4) flash-freezing samples with liquid nitrogen prior to storage at −20 ∘C. Results demonstrate that storage can lead to bothenhancements and losses of greater than 1 order of magnitude, withnon-heat-labile INPs being generally less sensitive to storage regime, butsignificant losses of INPs smaller than 0.45 µm in all tested storageprotocols. Correlations between total storage time (1–166 d) and changesin INP concentrations were weak across sampling protocols, with theexception of INPs with freezing temperatures ≥ −9 ∘C in samples stored at room temperature. We provide thefollowing recommendations for preservation of precipitation samples fromcoastal or marine environments intended for INP analysis: that samples bestored at −20 ∘C to minimize storage artifacts, thatchanges due to storage are likely an additional uncertainty in INPconcentrations, and that filtration treatments be applied only to freshsamples. At the freezing temperature −11 ∘C, average INPconcentration losses of 51 %, 74 %, 16 % and 41 % were observed foruntreated samples stored using the room temperature, +4, −20 ∘C, and flash-frozen protocols, respectively.Finally, the estimated uncertainties associated with the four storage protocolsare provided for untreated, heat-treated and filtered samples for INPsbetween −9 and −17 ∘C.more » « less
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Abstract The formation of ice in clouds can strongly impact cloud properties and precipitation processes during storms, including atmospheric rivers. Sea spray aerosol (SSA) particles are relatively inefficient as ice nucleating particles (INPs) compared to mineral dust. However, due to the vast coverage of the Earth's surface by the oceans, a number of recent studies have focused on identifying sources of marine INPs, particularly in regions lacking a strong influence from dust. This study describes the integration, validation, and application of a system coupling a continuous flow diffusion chamber with a single particle mass spectrometer using a pumped counterflow virtual impactor to remove nonnucleated particles and selectively measure the composition of INPs with a detection efficiency of 3.10×10−4. In situ measurements of immersion freezing INP composition were made at a coastal site in California using the integrated system. Mineral dust particles were the most abundant ice crystal residual type during the sampling period and found to be ice active despite having undergone atmospheric processing. SSA were more abundant in ambient measurements but represented only a minor fraction of the ice crystal residual population at −31 °C. Notably, the SSA particles that activated were enriched with organic nitrogen species that were likely transferred from the ocean. Calculations of ice nucleation active site densities were within good agreement with previous studies of mineral dust and SSA.more » « less
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
-
Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9031-2021
