O'Sullivan, D orcid.org/0000-0002-6884-8046, Adams, MP orcid.org/0000-0002-9555-1264, Tarn, MD orcid.org/0000-0001-5827-4125 et al. (13 more authors) (2018) Contributions of biogenic material to the atmospheric ice-nucleating particle population in North Western Europe. Scientific Reports, 8. 13821. ISSN 2045-2322
Abstract
A minute fraction of atmospheric particles exert a disproportionate effect on the phase of mixed-phase clouds by acting as ice-nucleating particles (INPs). To understand the effects of these particles on weather and climate, both now and into the future, we must first develop a quantitative understanding of the major INP sources worldwide. Previous work has demonstrated that aerosols such as desert dusts are globally important INPs, but the role of biogenic INPs is unclear, with conflicting evidence for their importance. Here, we show that at a temperate site all INPs active above −18 °C at concentrations >0.1 L−¹ are destroyed on heating, consistent with these INPs being of biological origin. Furthermore, we show that a global model of desert dust INPs dramatically underestimates the measured INP concentrations, but is consistent with the thermally-stable component. Notably, the heat sensitive INPs are active at temperatures where shallow cloud layers in Northern Europe are frequently observed to glaciate. Hence, we suggest that biogenic material is important for primary ice production in this region. The prevalence of heat sensitive, most likely biogenic, INPs in this region highlights that, as a community, we need to quantify the sources and transport of these particles as well as determine their atmospheric abundance across the globe and at cloud altitudes.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2018. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Earth and Environment (Leeds) > Inst for Climate & Atmos Science (ICAS) (Leeds) The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Chemistry (Leeds) > Inorganic Chemistry (Leeds) The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Physics and Astronomy (Leeds) > Molecular & Nanoscale Physics |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number EPSRC EP/M003027/1 EU - European Union 648661 EU - European Union GA 713664 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 18 Sep 2018 10:01 |
Last Modified: | 17 Dec 2024 11:32 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Nature Publishing Group |
Identification Number: | 10.1038/s41598-018-31981-7 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:135803 |