Characterization of the Aerobiome during ARM Surface-Atmosphere Integrated Laboratory (SAIL) Campaign
EMSL Project ID
60338
Abstract
Atmospheric bioaerosols are bacteria, viruses, spores or pollen and their fragments suspended in ambient air, and they can have wide-reaching potential impacts on air quality, climate, and public health. They span wide range of particle sizes (nanometers to micrometers) and complex chemical composition, which makes quantification of their concentrations and vertical profiles in the atmosphere challenging. Of specific interest to climate are the microorganisms such as P. syringae bacteria that can promote ice nucleation in the atmosphere at high temperature regimes relevant to mixed-phase clouds. Although P. syringae bacteria are the most well-known biological nucleators, a range of other microorganisms such as pollen, fungal spores, and fragments of vegetation, have been shown to have ice active properties both in the field and the laboratory.
In addition to its significant climate impacts, atmospheric bioaerosol is difficult to measure, especially in real time. State-of-the-art in-situ bioaerosol sensors are commonly fluorescence- based, taking advantage of bio-fluorophores, such as tryptophan or NADH. The most common example of such a sensor is the Wideband Integrated Bioaerosol Sensor (WIBS) manufactured by Droplet Measurement Technologies (DMT), but development of improved bioaerosol sensors is an active area of research. Mass spectrometry techniques have also been used in the past, but those are expensive and difficult to deploy on mobile and aerial platforms. As a direct consequence, vertical profiles of bioaerosol in the atmosphere are a poorly constrained yet important factor for modeling the contributions of bioaerosol to atmospheric budgets of ice nucleating particles INPs.
This project aims to investigate the vertical profile of bioaerosol during ASR/ARM’s SAIL campaign. We will deploy a novel small footprint fluorescence sensor based on successful Portable Optical Particle Counter (POPS) design alongside a Size- and Time- resolved Aerosol Collector (STAC) sampler on ARM’s tethered balloon system (TBS) during the on-going Surface-Atmosphere Integrated Laboratory (SAIL) campaign in the Colorado River basin during the spring and summer of 2023. The specific aim is to obtain simultaneous vertically- resolved profiles of fluorescent aerosol concentrations and samples of aerosol for subsequent analysis with high-resolution mass spectrometry and microscopy at EMSL for identification of specific biomarkers. This will both constrain vertical profiles of fluorescent particles, which can be used as a proxy for biological aerosol and allow development of correlations of particle fluorescence with biomarkers of pollen, fungi, and bacteria. Additionally, the use of ice nucleation cell interfaced with Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope (IN-ESEM), will also allow for vertically-resolved resolution of biological and non-biological ice-nucleating particles (INPs). This will achieve comprehensive characterization of spring and summertime aerobiome in the Colorado River basin.
Project Details
Project type
FICUS Research
Start Date
2022-10-01
End Date
N/A
Status
Active
Released Data Link
Team
Principal Investigator
Co-Investigator(s)