408: Currents Carry Cloud Creators

This episode: Ocean bacteria brought up from the sea floor into
the air can help create clouds!


Download Episode (6.1 MB, 8.9 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Streptomyces thermodiastaticus

News item

Takeaways
The ocean is an important player affecting the climate of the
planet, in many ways. Its effects on clouds influence the amount
of solar radiation reflected back into space or trapped as heat,
and microbes play a role in this effect. Certain microbes make
particles that form the nucleus of water droplets or ice crystals
that make up clouds, and other microbes can perform this
nucleation themselves.

In this study, an unusual combination of a phytoplankton bloom
and strong winds and currents, all in the right places, led to a
large number of ice-nucleating bacteria being fed and then
brought up from the sea floor and launched into the air, possibly
affecting weather patterns in the Arctic.

Journal Paper:
Creamean JM, Cross JN, Pickart R, McRaven L, Lin P, Pacini A,
Hanlon R, Schmale DG, Ceniceros J, Aydell T, Colombi N, Bolger E,
DeMott PJ. 2019. Ice Nucleating Particles Carried From Below a
Phytoplankton Bloom to the Arctic Atmosphere. Geophys Res Lett
46:8572–8581.


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