Initiation of the ice phase by marine biogenic surfaces in supersaturated gas and supercooled aqueous phases

Abstract

Biogenic particles have the potential to affect the formation of ice crystals in the atmosphere with subsequent consequences for the hydrological cycle and climate. We present laboratory observations of heterogeneous ice nucleation in immersion and deposition modes under atmospherically relevant conditions initiated by Nannochloris atomus and Emiliania huxleyi, marine phytoplankton with structurally and chemically distinct cell walls. Temperatures at which freezing, melting, and water uptake occur are observed using optical microscopy. The intact and fragmented unarmoured cells of N. atomus in aqueous NaCl droplets enhance ice nucleation by 10–20 K over the homogeneous freezing limit and can be described by a modified water activity based ice nucleation approach. E. huxleyicells covered by calcite plates do not enhance droplet freezing temperatures. Both species nucleate ice in the deposition mode at an ice saturation ratio, S_ice, as low as ∼1.2 and below 240 K, however, for each, different nucleation modes occur at warmer temperatures. These observations show that markedly different biogenic surfaces have both comparable and contrasting effects on ice nucleation behaviour depending on the presence of the aqueous phase and the extent of supercooling and water vapour supersaturation. We derive heterogeneous ice nucleation rate coefficients, J_het, and cumulative ice nuclei spectra, K, for quantification and analysis using time-dependent and time-independent approaches, respectively. Contact angles, α, derived from J_hetvia immersion freezing depend on T, a_w, and S_ice. For deposition freezing, α can be described as a function of S_ice only. The different approaches yield different predictions of atmospheric ice crystal numbers primarily due to the time evolution allowed for the time-dependent approach with implications for the evolution of mixed-phase and ice clouds.