PNNL

Abstract

The effect of anthropogenic and biogenic organic particles on atmospheric glaciation processes is poorly understood. We use an optical microscopy (OM) setup to identify the location of ice nuclei (IN) active in immersion freezing and deposition ice nucleation for temperatures of 200-273 K within a large population of particles sampled from an ambient environment. Applying multi-modal micro-spectroscopy methods we characterize the physicochemical properties of individual IN in particle populations collected in central California. Chemical composition and mixing state analysis of particle populations are performed to identify characteristic particle-type classes. All particle-types contained organic material. Particles in these samples take up water at subsaturated conditions, induce immersion freezing at subsaturated and saturated conditions above 226 K, and act as deposition IN below 226 K. The identified IN belong to the most common particle-type classes observed in the field samples: organic coated sea salt, Na-rich, and secondary and refractory carbonaceous particles. Based on these observations, we suggest that the IN are not always particles with unique chemical composition and exceptional ice nucleation propensity; rather, they are common particles in the ambient particle population. Thus, particle composition and morphology alone are insufficient to assess their potential to act as IN. The results suggest that particle-type abundance is also a crucial factor in determining the ice nucleation efficiency of specific IN types. These findings emphasize that ubiquitous organic particles can induce ice nucleation under atmospherically relevant conditions and that they may play an important role in atmospheric glaciation processes.