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Atmospheric subpollen particles (SPPs) released from pollen grains can act as ice nucleating particles. Using a droplet–freezing approach to assess immersion freezing–ice nucleating (IN) activity, ...

The formation of ice particles in Earth’s atmosphere strongly influences the dynamics and optical properties of clouds and their impacts on the climate system. Ice formation in clouds is often triggered heterogeneously by ice nucleating particles (INPs) that represent a very low number of particles in the atmosphere. To date, many sources of INPs, such as mineral and soil dust, have been investigated and identified in the lower latitudes. Although less is known about the sources of ice nucleation at higher latitudes, efforts have been made to identify the sources of INPs in the Arctic and boreal environments. In this study, we investigate the INP emission potential from high latitude boreal forests. We introduce the HyICE-2018 measurement campaign conducted in the boreal forest of Hyytiälä, Finland between February and June 2018. The campaign utilized the infrastructure of the SMEAR II research station with additional instrumentation for measuring INPs to quantify the concentrations and sources of INPs in the boreal environment. In this contribution, we describe the measurement infrastructure and operating procedures during HyICE-2018 and we report results from specific time periods where INP instruments were run in parallel for inter-comparison purposes. Our results show that the suite of instruments deployed during HyICE-2018 reports consistent results and therefore lays the foundation for forthcoming results to be considered holistically. In addition, we compare the INP concentration we measured to INP parameterizations, and we show a very good agreement with the Tobo et al. (2013) parameterization developed from measurements conducted in a ponderosa pine forest ecosystem in Colorado, USA.

Atmospheric ice nucleating particles (INPs) influence global climate by altering cloud formation, lifetime, and precipitation efficiency. The role of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) material as a source of INPs in the ambient atmosphere has not been well defined. Here, we demonstrate the potential for biogenic SOA to activate as depositional INPs in the upper troposphere by combining field measurements with laboratory experiments. Ambient INPs were measured in a remote mountaintop location at –46 °C and an ice supersaturation of 30% with concentrations ranging from 0.1 to 70 L–1. Concentrations of depositional INPs were positively correlated with the mass fractions and loadings of isoprene-derived secondary organic aerosols. Compositional analysis of ice residuals showed that ambient particles with isoprene-derived SOA material can act as depositional ice nuclei. Laboratory experiments further demonstrated the ability of isoprene-derived SOA to nucleate ice under a range of atmospheric conditions. We further show that ambient concentrations of isoprene-derived SOA can be competitive with other INP sources. This demonstrates that isoprene and potentially other biogenically-derived SOA materials could influence cirrus formation and properties., Ice nucleating particles impact the global climate by altering cloud formation and properties, but the sources of these emissions are not completely characterized. Here, the authors show that secondary organic aerosols formed from the oxidation of organic gases in the atmosphere can be a source of ice nucleating particles.

Biological particles, including pollen, are released into the atmosphere in large amounts and carry components which can initiate ice nucleation (IN) under cloud conditions. In this study, we investigate in immersion mode the ice nucleation ability of eleven different tree pollen from deciduous and evergreen trees. Droplet freezing experiments are conducted, where we find the IN ability of filtered tree pollen aqueous suspensions to vary over more than 10 °C and ice nucleation to be triggered by subpollen particles that are smaller than 0.45 μm in size. The presence of full pollen grains in the sample does not significantly change the median freezing temperature. The IN activity of the pollen samples is complemented by total organic carbon (TOC) analysis, which allows calculation of the number of ice nucleating particles per mass of carbon. Infrared analysis of the bulk samples does not clearly indicate whether specific functional groups are correlated to the ability of the subpollen particles to nucleate ice.

Clouds containing ice are vital for precipitation formation and are important in determining the Earth's radiative budget. However, primary formation of ice in clouds is not fully understood. In the presence of ice nucleating particles (INPs), the phase change to ice is promoted, but identification and quantification of INPs in a natural environment remains challenging because of their low numbers. In this paper, we quantify INP number concentrations in the free troposphere (FT) as measured at the High Altitude Research Station Jungfraujoch (JFJ), during the winter, spring, and summer of the years 2014–2017. INPs were measured at conditions relevant for mixed‐phase cloud formation at T = 241/242 K. To date, this is the longest timeline of semiregular measurements akin to online INP monitoring at this site and sampling conditions. We find that INP concentrations in the background FT are on average capped at 10/stdL (liter of air at standard conditions [T = 273 K and p = 1013 hPa]) with an interquartile range of 0.4–9.6/stdL, as compared to measurements during times when other air mass origins (e.g., Sahara or marine boundary layer) prevailed. Elevated concentrations were measured in the field campaigns of 2016, which might be due to enhanced influence from Saharan dust and marine boundary layer air arriving at the JFJ. The upper limit of INP concentrations in the background FT is supported by measurements performed at similar conditions, but at different locations in the FT, where we find INP concentrations to be below 13/stdL most of the time. ISSN:0148-0227 ISSN:2169-897X