Observations of ice nucleating particles over Southern Ocean waters

A likely important feature of the poorly understood aerosol-cloud interactions over the Southern Ocean (SO) is the dominant role of sea spray aerosol, versus terrestrial aerosol. Ice nucleating particles (INPs), or particles required for heterogeneous ice nucleation, present over the SO have not been studied in several decades. In this study, boundary layer aerosol properties and immersion freezing INP number concentrations (n(INPs)) were measured during a ship campaign that occurred south of Australia (down to 53 degrees S) in March-April 2016. Ocean surface chlorophyll a concentrations ranged from 0.11 to 1.77 mg/m(3), and nINPs were a factor of 100 lower than historical surveys, ranging from 0.38 to 4.6 m(-3) at -20 degrees C. The INP population included organic heat-stable material, with contributions from heat-labile material. Lower INP source potentials of SO seawater samples compared to Arctic seawater were consistent with lower ice nucleating site densities in this study compared to north Atlantic air masses.

To Access Resource:

Questions? Email Resource Support Contact:

  • opensky@ucar.edu
    UCAR/NCAR - Library

Resource Type publication
Temporal Range Begin N/A
Temporal Range End N/A
Temporal Resolution N/A
Bounding Box North Lat N/A
Bounding Box South Lat N/A
Bounding Box West Long N/A
Bounding Box East Long N/A
Spatial Representation N/A
Spatial Resolution N/A
Related Links N/A
Additional Information N/A
Resource Format PDF
Standardized Resource Format PDF
Asset Size N/A
Legal Constraints

Copyright 2018 American Geophysical Union.
Access Constraints None
Software Implementation Language N/A

Resource Support Name N/A
Resource Support Email opensky@ucar.edu
Resource Support Organization UCAR/NCAR - Library
Distributor N/A
Metadata Contact Name N/A
Metadata Contact Email opensky@ucar.edu
Metadata Contact Organization UCAR/NCAR - Library

Author McCluskey, Christina S.
Hill, T. C. J.
Humphries, R. S.
Rauker, A. M.
Moreau, S.
Strutton, P. G.
Chambers, S. D.
Williams, A. G.
McRobert, I.
Ward, J.
Keywood, M. D.
Harnwell, J.
Ponsonby, W.
Loh, Z. M.
Krummel, P. B.
Protat, A.
Kreidenweis, S. M.
DeMott, P. J.
Publisher UCAR/NCAR - Library
Publication Date 2018-11-06T00:00:00
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) Not Assigned
Alternate Identifier N/A
Resource Version N/A
Topic Category geoscientificInformation
Progress N/A
Metadata Date 2025-07-11T19:33:36.695596
Metadata Record Identifier edu.ucar.opensky::articles:22202
Metadata Language eng; USA
Suggested Citation McCluskey, Christina S., Hill, T. C. J., Humphries, R. S., Rauker, A. M., Moreau, S., Strutton, P. G., Chambers, S. D., Williams, A. G., McRobert, I., Ward, J., Keywood, M. D., Harnwell, J., Ponsonby, W., Loh, Z. M., Krummel, P. B., Protat, A., Kreidenweis, S. M., DeMott, P. J.. (2018). Observations of ice nucleating particles over Southern Ocean waters. UCAR/NCAR - Library. https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7h41vfq. Accessed 18 August 2025.

Harvest Source