Articles | Volume 25, issue 19
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-11919-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.Bioaerosols as indicators of central Arctic ice nucleating particle sources
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- Final revised paper (published on 02 Oct 2025)
- Supplement to the final revised paper
- Preprint (discussion started on 07 Feb 2025)
- Supplement to the preprint
Interactive discussion
Status: closed
Comment types: AC – author | RC – referee | CC – community | EC – editor | CEC – chief editor
| : Report abuse
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RC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2025-128', Anonymous Referee #1, 05 Mar 2025
- AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Kevin R. Barry, 02 Jun 2025
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RC2: 'Comment on egusphere-2025-128', Anonymous Referee #2, 28 Mar 2025
- AC2: 'Reply on RC2', Kevin R. Barry, 02 Jun 2025
Peer review completion
AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision | EF: Editorial file upload
AR by Kevin R. Barry on behalf of the Authors (02 Jun 2025)
Author's response
Author's tracked changes
Manuscript
ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (04 Jun 2025) by James Allan
RR by Anonymous Referee #1 (04 Jun 2025)
RR by Anonymous Referee #2 (14 Jul 2025)

ED: Publish subject to technical corrections (15 Jul 2025) by James Allan

AR by Kevin R. Barry on behalf of the Authors (15 Jul 2025)
Manuscript
Review of „Bioaerosols as indicators of central Arctic ice nucleating particle sources“ by Kevin Barry and co-authors
The study presented by Barry et al. investigates the seasonal cycle of INP concentration and bioaerosols based on measurements taken onboard the research vessel Polarstern over a one-year period. They find significant variability in the bacterial and fungal composition, suggesting a mixture of local, regional, and long-range transported bioaerosols. Moreover, the authors state that biological particles contribute significantly to the INP population throughout the year, dominating it in summer.
The study is very well written and presents an interesting dataset from a unique campaign. However, my major concern is about the methods used to infer information about the biological, organic, and inorganic content of the INP samples using heat treatments and H2O2 digestion, and consequently, how the results of these treatments are discussed. I am aware that such treatments are frequently used nowadays to investigate contributing species to the INP population. However, recent studies have shown that wet heat treatments can also alter the ice nucleation ability of some mineral particles, while some biogenic INPs are not affected by heat treatments (Daily et al., 2022). Using this method alone to infer contributions from biological aerosols to INPs is therefore not sufficient
Minor
References
Bullard, J. E.: Contemporary glacigenic inputs to the dust cycle, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 38, 71-89, https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.3315, 2013.
Daily, M. I., Tarn, M. D., Whale, T. F., and Murray, B. J.: An evaluation of the heat test for the ice-nucleating ability of minerals and biological material, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 2635-2665, 10.5194/amt-15-2635-2022, 2022.
Groot Zwaaftink, C. D., Grythe, H., Skov, H., and Stohl, A.: Substantial contribution of northern high-latitude sources to mineral dust in the Arctic, Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 121, 13,678-613,697, doi:10.1002/2016JD025482, 2016.