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1: Science. 2008 Feb 29;319(5867):1214.Click here to read Links

Ubiquity of biological ice nucleators in snowfall.

Christner BC, Morris CE, Foreman CM, Cai R, Sands DC.

Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA. xner@lsu.edu

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.

PMID: 18309078 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]