Articles | Volume 21, issue 13
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-3201-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-3201-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
High interspecific variability in ice nucleation activity suggests pollen ice nucleators are incidental
Nina L. H. Kinney
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Department of Chemistry, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK
Trait Diversity and Function, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Ardingly, West Sussex, RH17 6TN, UK
Charles A. Hepburn
Mathematics Institute, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK
Matthew I. Gibson
Department of Chemistry, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK
Division of Biomedical Sciences, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK
Department of Chemistry, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK
Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, University of Manchester, Manchester, M1 7DN, UK
Daniel Ballesteros
Trait Diversity and Function, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Ardingly, West Sussex, RH17 6TN, UK
Department of Botany and Geology, University of Valencia, 46100 Burjassot, Valencia, Spain
Thomas F. Whale
Department of Chemistry, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK
School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK
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Thomas F. Whale, Sarah L. Barr, and Trystan Surawy-Stepney
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-680, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-680, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Measurement Techniques (AMT).
Short summary
Short summary
Droplet-freezing experiments are used to study ice formation in the atmosphere, but standard methods to show uncertainty or test whether two results differ are lacking. We borrow from medical ‘time-to-event’ statistics to add easily-calculated confidence intervals to fraction-frozen curves and derived quantities without binning or assumptions about underlying physics, and adapt a test to judge whether curves differ beyond random variation. This will make comparison of studies easier.
Martin I. Daily, Mark D. Tarn, Thomas F. Whale, and Benjamin J. Murray
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 2635–2665, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-2635-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-2635-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Mineral dust and particles of biological origin are important types of ice-nucleating particles (INPs) that can trigger ice formation of supercooled cloud droplets. Heat treatments are used to detect the presence of biological INPs in samples collected from the environment as the activity of mineral INPs is assumed unchanged, although not fully assessed. We show that the ice-nucleating ability of some minerals can change after heating and discuss how INP heat tests should be interpreted.
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Short summary
Molecules released from plant pollen induce the formation of ice from supercooled water at temperatures warm enough to suggest an underlying function for this activity. In this study we show that ice nucleators are ubiquitous in pollen. We suggest the molecules responsible fulfil some unrelated biological function and nucleate ice incidentally. The ubiquity of ice-nucleating molecules in pollen and particularly active examples reveal a greater potential for pollen to impact weather and climate.
Molecules released from plant pollen induce the formation of ice from supercooled water at...
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