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Science 29 February 2008:
Vol. 319. no. 5867, p. 1214
DOI: 10.1126/science.1149757
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Brevia

Ubiquity of Biological Ice Nucleators in Snowfall

Brent C. Christner,1* Cindy E. Morris,2 Christine M. Foreman,3 Rongman Cai,1 David C. Sands4

Despite the integral role of ice nucleators (IN) in atmospheric processes leading to precipitation, their sources and distributions have not been well established. We examined IN in snowfall from mid- and high-latitude locations and found that the most active were biological in origin. Of the IN larger than 0.2 micrometer that were active at temperatures warmer than -7°C, 69 to 100% were biological, and a substantial fraction were bacteria. Our results indicate that the biosphere is a source of highly active IN and suggest that these biological particles may affect the precipitation cycle and/or their own precipitation during atmospheric transport.

1 Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA.
2 L'Institut Nationale de la Recherche Agronomique, Unité de Pathologie Végétale UR407, F-84140 Montfavet, France.
3 Center for Biofilm Engineering and Department of Land Resources and Environmental Sciences, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717, USA.
4 Department of Plant Sciences and Plant Pathology, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: xner{at}lsu.edu

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)