Collaborative Research: Relating Atlantic Marine Convection, Ice Nuclei and Cold pools (RAM-CINC)

Ice nucleating particles are small airborne particles that enable ice crystals to form in clouds. These particles often consist of desert dust, marine aerosols, or biological aerosols. In this project, the research team will equip a set of drones with advanced measurement capabilities and launch them during a research voyage in the eastern Atlantic Ocean to study the prevalence of ice nucleating particles and their role in precipitation, biogeochemical cycles, and ocean fertilization. The resulting data will help researchers to better understand and forecast clouds and precipitation. The project also includes early-career scientists and students, which ensures the development of the next generation of scientists. In this project, the NSF-funded research team will join a scientific cruise from the German Research Vessel Meteor in the eastern Atlantic Ocean in Summer 2025. The researchers will deploy a set of three drones and other instrumentation on the ship to study the prevalence of ice nucleating particles with a special focus on biological particles, known as bioaerosols. Measurements will be targeted around convective precipitation regions, including cold pools from rain-cooled air. The research team will address hypotheses about the origin of the ice nucleating particles, the impact of convective storms on particle concentrations and vertical distributions, and potential feedbacks to convective properties. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.