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African dust aerosols as atmospheric ice nuclei

Geophysical Research Letters · 2003 · Vol. 30(14)

Paul J. DeMott✉(Colorado State University)Kenneth Sassen(University of Alaska Fairbanks)Michael R. Poellot(University of North Dakota)Darrel Baumgardner(Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México)D. C. Rogers(NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research)Sarah D. Brooks(Colorado State University)A. J. Prenni(Colorado State University)Sonia M. Kreidenweis(Colorado State University)

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Abstract

Measurements of the ice nucleating ability of aerosol particles in air masses over Florida having sources from North Africa support the potential importance of dust aerosols for indirectly affecting cloud properties and climate. The concentrations of ice nuclei within dust layers at particle sizes below 1 μm exceeded 1 cm −3 ; the highest ever reported with our device at temperatures warmer than homogeneous freezing conditions. These measurements add to previous direct and indirect evidence of the ice nucleation efficiency of desert dust aerosols, but also confirm their contribution to ice nuclei populations at great distances from source regions.

Atmospheric aerosols and clouds Atmospheric chemistry and aerosols Atmospheric Ozone and ClimateIce nucleusAerosolAtmospheric sciencesEnvironmental scienceMineral dustHomogeneousIce coreParticle (ecology)NucleationClimatology

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