Laboratory study of the heterogeneous ice nucleation  on black-carbon-containing aerosol

Abstract. Soot and black carbon (BC) particles are generated in the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, biomass, and biofuels. These airborne particles affect air quality, human health, aerosol–cloud interactions, precipitation formation, and climate. At present, the climate effects of BC particles are not well understood. Their role in cloud formation is obscured by their chemical and physical variability and by the internal mixing states of these particles with other compounds. Ice nucleation in field studies is often difficult to interpret. Nonetheless, most field studies seem to suggest that BC particles are not efficient ice-nucleating particles (INPs). On the other hand, laboratory measurements show that in some cases, BC particles can be highly active INPs under certain conditions. By working with well-characterized BC particles, our aim is to systematically establish the factors that govern the ice nucleation activity of BC. The current study focuses on laboratory measurements of the effectiveness of BC-containing aerosol in the formation of ice crystals in temperature and ice supersaturation conditions relevant to cirrus clouds. We examine ice nucleation on BC particles under water-subsaturated cirrus cloud conditions, commonly understood as deposition-mode ice nucleation. We study a series of well-characterized commercial carbon black particles with varying morphologies and surface chemistries as well as ethylene flame-generated combustion soot. The carbon black particles used in this study are proxies for atmospherically relevant BC aerosols. These samples were characterized by electron microscopy, mass spectrometry, and optical scattering measurements. Ice nucleation activity was systematically examined in temperature and saturation conditions in the ranges of 217≤T≤235 K and 1.0≤Sice≤1.5 and 0.59≤Swater≤0.98, respectively, using a SPectrometer for Ice Nuclei (SPIN) instrument, which is a continuous-flow diffusion chamber coupled with instrumentation to measure light scattering and polarization. To study the effect of coatings on INPs, the BC-containing particles were coated with organic acids found in the atmosphere, namely stearic acid, cis-pinonic acid, and oxalic acid. The results show significant variations in ice nucleation activity as a function of size, morphology, and surface chemistry of the BC particles. The measured ice nucleation activity dependencies on temperature, supersaturation conditions, and the physicochemical properties of the BC particles are consistent with an ice nucleation mechanism of pore condensation followed by freezing. Coatings and surface oxidation modify the initial formation efficiency of pristine ice crystals on BC-containing aerosol. Depending on the BC material and the coating, both inhibition and enhancement in INP activity were observed. Our measurements at low temperatures complement published data and highlight the capability of some BC particles to nucleate ice under low ice supersaturation conditions. These results are expected to help refine theories relating to soot INP activation in the atmosphere.

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Laboratory study of the heterogeneous ice nucleation on black carbon containing aerosol

10.5194/acp-2018-915 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Leonid Nichman ◽

Martin Wolf ◽

Paul Davidovits ◽

Timothy B. Onasch ◽

Yue Zhang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Carbon Black ◽

Black Carbon ◽

Field Studies ◽

Ice Nucleation ◽

Published Data ◽

Laboratory Measurements ◽

Ethylene Flame ◽

Ice Nuclei ◽

Nucleation Activity ◽

Ice Nucleation Activity

Abstract. Black carbon (BC) particles are generated in the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, biomass, and biofuels. These airborne particles affect air quality, human health, and climate. At present, the climate effects of BC particles are not well understood. Their role in cloud formation is obscured by their chemical and physical variability, and by the internal mixing states of these particles with other compounds. The current study focuses on laboratory measurements of the effectiveness of BC-containing aerosol in the formation of ice crystals in cirrus clouds. Ice nucleation in field studies is often difficult to interpret. Nonetheless, most field studies seem to suggest that BC particles are not efficient ice nuclei (IN). On the other hand, laboratory measurements show that in some cases, BC particles can be highly active IN. By working with well-characterized BC-containing particles, our aim is to systematically establish the factors that govern the IN activity of BC. We examine ice nucleation on BC-containing particles under cirrus cloud conditions, commonly understood to be deposition mode ice nucleation. We study a series of well-characterized commercial carbon black particles with varying morphologies and surface chemistries, as well as ethylene flame-generated combustion soot. The carbon black particles used in this study are proxies for atmospherically relevant BC aerosols. These samples were characterized by electron microscopy, mass spectrometry, and optical scattering measurements. Ice nucleation activity was systematically examined in the temperature range from 217–235 K, using a SPectrometer for Ice Nuclei (SPIN) instrument, which is a continuous flow diffusion chamber coupled with instrumentation to measure light scattering and polarization. To study the effect of coatings on IN, the BC-containing particles were coated with organic acids found in the atmosphere, namely, stearic acid, cis-pinonic acid, and oxalic acid. The results show significant variations in ice nucleation activity as a function of size, morphology and surface chemistry of the BC-containing particles. The measured IN activity dependence on temperature and the physicochemical properties of the BC-containing particles are consistent with an ice nucleation mechanism of pore condensation followed by freezing. Coatings and surface oxidation modify the initial ice nucleation ability of BC-containing aerosol. Depending on the BC material and the coating, both inhibition and enhancement in IN activity were observed. Our measurements at low temperatures complement published data, and highlight the capability of some BC particles to nucleate ice under low supersaturation conditions. These results are expected to help refine theories relating to soot IN activation in the atmosphere.

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Ice Nucleation Properties of Ice-binding Proteins from Snow Fleas

Biomolecules ◽

10.3390/biom9100532 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (10) ◽

pp. 532 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Akalabya Bissoyi ◽

Naama Reicher ◽

Michael Chasnitsky ◽

Sivan Arad ◽

Thomas Koop ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Binding Proteins ◽

Thermal Hysteresis ◽

Ice Nucleation ◽

Ice Crystals ◽

Nucleation Theory ◽

Classical Nucleation Theory ◽

Ice Binding ◽

Nucleation Activity ◽

Ice Shell ◽

Ice Nucleation Activity

Ice-binding proteins (IBPs) are found in many organisms, such as fish and hexapods, plants, and bacteria that need to cope with low temperatures. Ice nucleation and thermal hysteresis are two attributes of IBPs. While ice nucleation is promoted by large proteins, known as ice nucleating proteins, the smaller IBPs, referred to as antifreeze proteins (AFPs), inhibit the growth of ice crystals by up to several degrees below the melting point, resulting in a thermal hysteresis (TH) gap between melting and ice growth. Recently, we showed that the nucleation capacity of two types of IBPs corresponds to their size, in agreement with classical nucleation theory. Here, we expand this finding to additional IBPs that we isolated from snow fleas (the arthropod Collembola), collected in northern Israel. Chemical analyses using circular dichroism and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy data suggest that these IBPs have a similar structure to a previously reported snow flea antifreeze protein. Further experiments reveal that the ice-shell purified proteins have hyperactive antifreeze properties, as determined by nanoliter osmometry, and also exhibit low ice-nucleation activity in accordance with their size.

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Review of "The effects of morphology, mobility size and SOA material coating on the ice nucleation activity of black carbon in the cirrus regime" by Zhang et al.

10.5194/acp-2020-809-rc2 ◽

2020 ◽

Keyword(s):

Black Carbon ◽

Ice Nucleation ◽

Nucleation Activity ◽

Ice Nucleation Activity

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Seasonal ice nucleation activity of water samples from alpine rivers and lakes in Obergurgl, Austria

The Science of The Total Environment ◽

10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149442 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 149442

Author(s):

Philipp Baloh ◽

Regina Hanlon ◽

Christopher Anderson ◽

Eoin Dolan ◽

Gernot Pacholik ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Water Samples ◽

Ice Nucleation ◽

Rivers And Lakes ◽

Nucleation Activity ◽

Alpine Rivers ◽

Ice Nucleation Activity

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Ice nucleation activity of iron oxides via immersion freezing and an examination of the high ice nucleation activity of FeO

Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics ◽

10.1039/d0cp04220j ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 23 (5) ◽

pp. 3565-3573

Author(s):

Esther Chong ◽

Katherine E. Marak ◽

Yang Li ◽

Miriam Arak Freedman

Keyword(s):

Iron Oxides ◽

Functional Groups ◽

Ice Nucleation ◽

Mechanical Processing ◽

Immersion Freezing ◽

Nucleation Activity ◽

Ice Nucleation Activity

FeO has enhanced ice nucleation activity due to functional groups that are exposed upon mechanical processing.

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The occurrence of ice nucleation activity in pathogenic bacterial species

Archives of Phytopathology and Plant Protection ◽

10.1080/03235408.2012.724970 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 45 (18) ◽

pp. 2202-2212

Author(s):

Horst Mittelstädt

Keyword(s):

Bacterial Species ◽

Ice Nucleation ◽

Nucleation Activity ◽

Ice Nucleation Activity

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Effects of atmospheric conditions on ice nucleation activity of <i>Pseudomonas</i>

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics ◽

10.5194/acp-12-10667-2012 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 12 (22) ◽

pp. 10667-10677 ◽

Cited By ~ 66

Author(s):

E. Attard ◽

H. Yang ◽

A.-M. Delort ◽

P. Amato ◽

U. Pöschl ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Environmental Factors ◽

Pseudomonas Syringae ◽

Ice Nucleation ◽

Acidic Ph ◽

Bacterial Cells ◽

Atmospheric Conditions ◽

Ice Nucleation Protein ◽

Ice Melt ◽

Nucleation Activity ◽

Ice Nucleation Activity

Abstract. Although ice nuclei from bacterial origin are known to be efficient at the highest temperatures known for ice catalysts, quantitative data are still needed to assess their role in cloud processes. Here we studied the effects of three typical cloud conditions (i) acidic pH (ii) NO2 and O3 exposure and (iii) UV-A exposure on the ice nucleation activity (INA) of four Pseudomonas strains. Three of the Pseudomonas syringae strains were isolated from cloud water and the phyllosphere and Pseudomonas fluorescens strain CGina-01 was isolated from Antarctic glacier ice melt. Among the three conditions tested, acidic pH caused the most significant effects on INA likely due to denaturation of the ice nucleation protein complex. Exposure to NO2 and O3 gases had no significant or only weak effects on the INA of two P. syringae strains whereas the INA of P. fluorescens CGina-01 was significantly affected. The INA of the third P. syringae strain showed variable responses to NO2 and O3 exposure. These differences in the INA of different Pseudomonas suggest that the response to atmospheric conditions could be strain-specific. After UV-A exposure, a substantial loss of viability of all four strains was observed whereas their INA decreased only slightly. This corroborates the notion that under certain conditions dead bacterial cells can maintain their INA. Overall, the negative effects of the three environmental factors on INA were more significant at the warmer temperatures. Our results suggest that in clouds where temperatures are near 0 °C, the importance of bacterial ice nucleation in precipitation processes could be reduced by some environmental factors.

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Ice nucleation activity identified in some phytopathogenic Fusarium species

Phytoprotection ◽

10.7202/706104ar ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 77 (2) ◽

pp. 83-92 ◽

Cited By ~ 29

Author(s):

C. Richard ◽

J.-G. Martin ◽

S. Pouleur

Keyword(s):

Fusarium Oxysporum ◽

Fusarium Species ◽

Freezing Temperature ◽

Ice Nucleation ◽

Free Living ◽

Factors Affecting ◽

Pure Cultures ◽

Nucleation Activity ◽

Ice Nucleation Activity ◽

Positive Controls

In order to know which species of Fusarium are ice nucleating and to determine the factors affecting their pathogenicity, ice nucleation activity (INA) was examined in Fusarium oxysporum, F. sporotrichioides, and F. tricinctum. Positive controls (lna+) used were F. acuminatum and F. avenaceum. The test for fungal INA was done with a simple and rapid tube nucleation assay. Twelve out of the 42 F. oxysporum isolates, and 8 out of 14 F. tricinctum isolates were lna+. No INA was detected in F sporotrichioides. In this test the threshold freezing temperature tended to increase with culture age, reaching a peak of -1°C in a few samples, which is as high as the warmest INA reported for bacteria, and higher than the INA detected in pure cultures of free-living fungi, lichen fungi, lichen algae and cyanobacteria. This is the first report of INA for F oxysporum.

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