Articles | Volume 24, issue 17
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-9939-2024
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-9939-2024
Research article
 | Highlight paper
 | 
09 Sep 2024
Research article | Highlight paper |  | 09 Sep 2024

Biological and dust aerosols as sources of ice-nucleating particles in the eastern Mediterranean: source apportionment, atmospheric processing and parameterization

Kunfeng Gao, Franziska Vogel, Romanos Foskinis, Stergios Vratolis, Maria I. Gini, Konstantinos Granakis, Anne-Claire Billault-Roux, Paraskevi Georgakaki, Olga Zografou, Prodromos Fetfatzis, Alexis Berne, Alexandros Papayannis, Konstantinos Eleftheridadis, Ottmar Möhler, and Athanasios Nenes

Related authors

Drivers of droplet formation in east Mediterranean orographic clouds
Romanos Foskinis, Ghislain Motos, Maria I. Gini, Olga Zografou, Kunfeng Gao, Stergios Vratolis, Konstantinos Granakis, Ville Vakkari, Kalliopi Violaki, Andreas Aktypis, Christos Kaltsonoudis, Zongbo Shi, Mika Komppula, Spyros N. Pandis, Konstantinos Eleftheriadis, Alexandros Papayannis, and Athanasios Nenes
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 9827–9842, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-9827-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-9827-2024, 2024
Short summary
Physicochemical properties of charcoal aerosols derived from biomass pyrolysis affect their ice-nucleating abilities at cirrus and mixed-phase cloud conditions
Fabian Mahrt, Carolin Rösch, Kunfeng Gao, Christopher H. Dreimol, Maria A. Zawadowicz, and Zamin A. Kanji
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 1285–1308, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1285-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1285-2023, 2023
Short summary
Laboratory studies of ice nucleation onto bare and internally mixed soot–sulfuric acid particles
Kunfeng Gao, Chong-Wen Zhou, Eszter J. Barthazy Meier, and Zamin A. Kanji
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 5331–5364, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5331-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5331-2022, 2022
Short summary
Enhanced soot particle ice nucleation ability induced by aggregate compaction and densification
Kunfeng Gao, Franz Friebel, Chong-Wen Zhou, and Zamin A. Kanji
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 4985–5016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-4985-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-4985-2022, 2022
Short summary

Related subject area

Subject: Aerosols | Research Activity: Field Measurements | Altitude Range: Troposphere | Science Focus: Physics (physical properties and processes)
Source apportionment of particle number size distribution at the street canyon and urban background sites
Sami D. Harni, Minna Aurela, Sanna Saarikoski, Jarkko V. Niemi, Harri Portin, Hanna Manninen, Ville Leinonen, Pasi Aalto, Phil K. Hopke, Tuukka Petäjä, Topi Rönkkö, and Hilkka Timonen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 12143–12160, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12143-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12143-2024, 2024
Short summary
Long-range transport of coarse mineral dust: an evaluation of the Met Office Unified Model against aircraft observations
Natalie G. Ratcliffe, Claire L. Ryder, Nicolas Bellouin, Stephanie Woodward, Anthony Jones, Ben Johnson, Lisa-Maria Wieland, Maximilian Dollner, Josef Gasteiger, and Bernadett Weinzierl
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 12161–12181, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12161-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12161-2024, 2024
Short summary
Extreme Saharan dust events expand northward over the Atlantic and Europe, prompting record-breaking PM10 and PM2.5 episodes
Sergio Rodríguez and Jessica López-Darias
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 12031–12053, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12031-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12031-2024, 2024
Short summary
Atmospheric black carbon in the metropolitan area of La Paz and El Alto, Bolivia: concentration levels and emission sources
Valeria Mardoñez-Balderrama, Griša Močnik, Marco Pandolfi, Robin L. Modini, Fernando Velarde, Laura Renzi, Angela Marinoni, Jean-Luc Jaffrezo, Isabel Moreno R., Diego Aliaga, Federico Bianchi, Claudia Mohr, Martin Gysel-Beer, Patrick Ginot, Radovan Krejci, Alfred Wiedensohler, Gaëlle Uzu, Marcos Andrade, and Paolo Laj
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 12055–12077, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12055-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12055-2024, 2024
Short summary
Changing optical properties of black carbon and brown carbon aerosols during long-range transport from the Indo-Gangetic Plain to the equatorial Indian Ocean
Krishnakant Budhavant, Mohanan Remani Manoj, Hari Ram Chandrika Rajendran Nair, Samuel Mwaniki Gaita, Henry Holmstrand, Abdus Salam, Ahmed Muslim, Sreedharan Krishnakumari Satheesh, and Örjan Gustafsson
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 11911–11925, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-11911-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-11911-2024, 2024
Short summary

Cited articles

Barahona, D. and Nenes, A.: Parameterizing the competition between homogeneous and heterogeneous freezing in ice cloud formation – polydisperse ice nuclei, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 9, 5933–5948, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-9-5933-2009, 2009. 
Barlow, J. F., Dunbar, T. M., Nemitz, E. G., Wood, C. R., Gallagher, M. W., Davies, F., O'Connor, E., and Harrison, R. M.: Boundary layer dynamics over London, UK, as observed using Doppler lidar during REPARTEE-II, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 11, 2111–2125, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-11-2111-2011, 2011. 
Bates, T. S., Kapustin, V. N., Quinn, P. K., Covert, D. S., Coffman, D. J., Mari, C., Durkee, P. A., De Bruyn, W. J., and Saltzman, E. S.: Processes controlling the distribution of aerosol particles in the lower marine boundary layer during the First Aerosol Characterization Experiment (ACE 1), J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 103, 16369–16383, https://doi.org/10.1029/97jd03720, 1998. 
Beall, C. M., Hill, T. C. J., DeMott, P. J., Köneman, T., Pikridas, M., Drewnick, F., Harder, H., Pöhlker, C., Lelieveld, J., Weber, B., Iakovides, M., Prokeš, R., Sciare, J., Andreae, M. O., Stokes, M. D., and Prather, K. A.: Ice-nucleating particles near two major dust source regions, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 12607–12627, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12607-2022, 2022. 
Bergeron, T.: On the physics of clouds and precipitation, in: Proces Verbaux de l'Association de Météorologie, International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics, 156–178, https://cir.nii.ac.jp/crid/1573105975504427392 (last access: 5 September 2024), 1935. 
Download
Executive editor
Ice Nucleating Particles (INP) remain one of the biggest sources of uncertainty when mechanistically predicting the properties of clouds and precipitation in meteorological and earth system models. This paper presents the results from some comprehensive in situ and remote sensing measurements of these aerosols at a mountaintop site in the Eastern Mediterranean, performing a highly detailed study of their sources and properties, including those of dust and bioaerosol. The results are then used to generate new parameterisations that can be applied in large-scale models, thus providing an observational basis for improving future predictions.
Short summary
Ice nucleating particle (INP) concentrations  are required for correct predictions of clouds and precipitation in a changing climate, but they are poorly constrained in climate models. We unravel source contributions to INPs in the eastern Mediterranean and find that biological particles are important, regardless of their origin. The parameterizations developed exhibit superior performance and enable models to consider biological-particle effects on INPs.
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint