Aerosol bacteria over the Southern Ocean during ACE-1

Individual bacterial cells occur in many samples that were collected at Cape Grim, Tasmania and during the Lagrangian "B" experiment of the Aerosol Characterization Experiment 1 (ACE-1) campaign that was conducted above the Southern Ocean. They are present in samples from altitudes as high...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Atmospheric Research
Main Authors: Pósfai, Mihály, Li, Jia, Anderson, James R., Buseck, Peter R.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2003
Subjects:
Online Access:https://real.mtak.hu/3407/
https://real.mtak.hu/3407/1/1038997.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0169-8095(03)00039-5
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Summary:Individual bacterial cells occur in many samples that were collected at Cape Grim, Tasmania and during the Lagrangian "B" experiment of the Aerosol Characterization Experiment 1 (ACE-1) campaign that was conducted above the Southern Ocean. They are present in samples from altitudes as high as 5.4 kin. Morphologically, almost all bacteria are rod-shaped, about 1 mum long or smaller, have one polar flagellum, and contain inclusions that are rich in P and K. Their morphological features suggest that these bacteria are motile, marine species. It seems likely that the cells became airborne by the same bubble-bursting mechanism that ejects sea-salt aerosol particles into the atmosphere;, however, the bacteria and sea-salt particles are typically not aggregated with one another. The estimated number ratio of bacteria and the dominant aerosol species, sea salt, varies in the samples and averages about 1%. The aerosol bacteria seem to represent an important atmospheric reservoir of P and organic compounds; on the other hand, since they are externally mixed with sea salt, they are unlikely to be effective as cloud condensation nuclei.