Heterogeneous ice nucleation ability of aerosol particles generated from Arctic sea surface microlayer and surface seawater samples at cirrus temperatures

• Published in: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
• Main Authors: R. Wagner, L. Ickes, A. K. Bertram, N. Els, E. Gorokhova, O. Möhler, B. J. Murray, N. S. Umo, M. E. Salter
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus Publications 2021
• Subjects: Physics; QC1-999; Chemistry; QD1-999; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13903-2021; https://doaj.org/article/04714451c59e4151b37ea5122f6a72fe

Sea spray aerosol particles are a recognised type of ice-nucleating particles under mixed-phase cloud conditions. Entities that are responsible for the heterogeneous ice nucleation ability include intact or fragmented cells of marine microorganisms as well as organic matter released by cell exudation. Only a small fraction of sea spray aerosol is transported to the upper troposphere, but there are indications from mass-spectrometric analyses of the residuals of sublimated cirrus particles that sea salt could also contribute to heterogeneous ice nucleation under cirrus conditions. Experimental studies on the heterogeneous ice nucleation ability of sea spray aerosol particles and their proxies at temperatures below 235 K are still scarce. In our article, we summarise previous measurements and present a new set of ice nucleation experiments at cirrus temperatures with particles generated from sea surface microlayer and surface seawater samples collected in three different regions of the Arctic and from a laboratory-grown diatom culture ( Skeletonema marinoi ). The particles were suspended in the Aerosol Interaction and Dynamics in the Atmosphere (AIDA) cloud chamber and ice formation was induced by expansion cooling. We confirmed that under cirrus conditions, apart from the ice-nucleating entities mentioned above, also crystalline inorganic salt constituents can contribute to heterogeneous ice formation. This takes place at temperatures below 220 K , where we observed in all experiments a strong immersion freezing mode due to the only partially deliquesced inorganic salts. The inferred ice nucleation active surface site densities for this nucleation mode reached a maximum of about 5×10 10 m −2 at an ice saturation ratio of 1.3. Much smaller densities in the range of 10 8 –10 9 m −2 were observed at temperatures between 220 and 235 K , where the inorganic salts fully deliquesced and only the organic matter and/or algal cells and cell debris could contribute to heterogeneous ice formation. These values are 2 orders ...