In recent years, with the intensification of global climate change, the process of ice nucleation in the atmosphere and its impact on precipitation have gradually become a hot topic in scientific research. Biological particles, as a fraction of organic particles, potentially play a crucial role in ice nucleation processes. However, the contributions and relationships of biological components and organic matter (OM) to atmospheric ice nucleation remain largely unexplored.
Recently, Professor Pingqing Fu's group from our institute used droplet freezing assays to measure total ice nucleating particles (INPs, Figure 1), lysozyme‐resistant INPs, nanoscale INPs (<0.22 μm), and heat‐resistant nanoscale INPs in precipitation collected at the summit of Mt. Lu, China. Heat‐sensitive INPs and lysozyme‐sensitive INPs were considered as biological INPs and bacterial INPs, respectively. Microorganisms and OM molecules in precipitation were identified by high‐throughput sequencing technology and ultrahigh‐resolution mass spectrometry, respectively. The study delved into the critical role of biological INPs in precipitation formation, analyzed the potential influence of organic molecules and microorganisms on biological INPs, and underscored the possible significance of sulfur‐containing organic compounds in the ice nucleation capacity of biological INPs. This research provides new insights into the ice nucleation mechanisms and potential sources of biological INPs.
Figure 1. Biological ice nucleators in precipitation at Mt. Lu, China.
The findings have been published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, a journal of the American Geophysical Union (AGU). Mutong Niu, a PhD student from School of Earth System Science, Tianjin University, is the first author, with Professor Pingqing Fu and Associate Professor Wei Hu as co-corresponding authors. This research was supported by the National Key R&D Plan (Grant No. 2022YFF0803000).
Citation: Niu, M. T., Hu, W.*, Huang, S., Chen, J., Zhong, S. J., Huang, Z.Y., Duan, P. M., Pei, X. Y., Duan, J., Bi, K., Chen, S., Jin, R., Sheng, M., Yang, N., Wu, L. B., Deng, J. J., Zhu, J. L., Shen, F. X., Wu, Z. J., Zhang, D. Z., Fu, P. Q*. Deciphering the significant role of biological ice nucleators in precipitation at the organic molecular level. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 2024, 129, e2024JD041278. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1029/2024JD041278
