Ice Nucleating Particle Connections to Regional Argentinian Land Surface Emissions and Weather During the Cloud, Aerosol, and Complex Terrain Interactions Experiment

Here, we present a multi-season study of ice-nucleating particles (INPs) active via the immersion freezing mechanism, which took place in north-central Argentina, a worldwide hotspot for mesoscale convective storms. INPs were measured untreated, after heating to 95 degrees C, and after hydrogen peroxide digestion. No seasonal cycle of INP concentrations was observed. Heat labile INPs, which we define as biological herein, dominated the population active at -5 to -20 degrees C, while non-heat-labile organic INPs (decomposed by peroxide) dominated at lower temperatures, from -20 to -28 degrees C. Inorganic INPs (remaining after peroxide digestion), were minor contributors to the overall INP activity. Biological INP concentration active around -12 degrees C peaked during rain events and under high relative humidity, reflecting emission mechanisms independent of the background aerosol concentration. The ratio of non-heat-labile organic and inorganic INPs was generally constant, suggesting they originated from the same source, presumably from regional arable topsoil based on air mass histories. Single particle mass spectrometry showed that soil particles aerosolized from a regionally common agricultural topsoil contained known mineral INP sources (K-feldspar and illite) as well as a significant organic component. The INP activity observed in this study correlates well with agricultural soil INP activities from this and other regions of the world, suggesting that the observed INP spectra might be typical of many arable landscapes. These results demonstrate the strong influence of regional continental landscapes, emitting INPs of types that are not yet well represented in global models.

Automated summary

A multi-season study in north-central Argentina found that heat-labile biological INPs dominated at temperatures between -5 and -20 degrees C, while non-heat-labile organic INPs were prevalent at lower temperatures. The study also highlighted the influence of regional arable topsoil on INP activity, with known mineral INP sources identified along with a significant organic component in soil particles aerosolized from common agricultural topsoil. This suggests that the observed INP spectra may be typical of many arable landscapes worldwide.