2008/02/28 by Brent C. Christner, Cindy E. Morris, Christine M. Foreman +2 · 4 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Environmental Science · #Atmospheric chemistry and aerosols #Atmospheric aerosols and clouds #Atmospheric Ozone and Climate
paper · doi:10.1126/science.1149757
openalex publication_date 2008/02/28 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23
Despite the integral role of ice nucleators (IN) in atmospheric processes leading to precipitation, their sources and distributions have not been well established. We examined IN in snowfall from mid- and high-latitude locations and found that the most active were biological in origin. Of the IN larger than 0.2 micrometer that were active at temperatures warmer than -7 degrees C, 69 to 100% were biological, and a substantial fraction were bacteria. Our results indicate that the biosphere is a source of highly active IN and suggest that these biological particles may affect the precipitation cycle and/or their own precipitation during atmospheric transport.