Workshop on Bioaerosols and Ice Nucleation

The atmosphere is a highly diverse system, the composition of which also includes airborne microorganisms and plant materials as well as their by-products. These suspended bioorganic particles are naturally emitted by different sources, such as the surface of soils, plants and water bodies, and their presence and transportation have proven to have strong effects on many atmospheric processes. Cloud formation and induction of precipitations are probably the best-known phenomena to be directly influenced by airborne biological materials, but they have only recently attracted proper attention from geo- and atmospheric scientists, meteorologists and climate modelers.

A substantial proportion of airborne bacteria and fungal spores have been shown to remain viable despite extreme conditions and to act as biocatalysts capable of interfering with atmospheric processes. Because of these properties, the concept is now emerging that aerosolized microbes may be used to address critical environmental and health issues in novel and beneficial ways. Besides their application in improving the efficiency of recycling primary elements like carbon, oxygen and nitrogen - which are central to the management of the current climate crisis - suspended microbes may also help reduce environmental pollution and limit the dispersion of pathogens in drastic manners. In addition, technological tools are now available to redesign and enhance the metabolic circuits and pathways of some of these microbes so that they would carry out their expected bioremediation functions with optimized efficiency and safety in the atmosphere.

The objective of the Bioaerosols and Ice Nucleation workshop is to bring together scientists from different disciplines such as biologists, chemists, physicists, geoengineers, meteorologists and atmospheric modelers to brainstorm over how airborne biological materials can be used to address critical environmental and health issues in innovative ways.

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Workshop on Bioaerosols and Ice Nucleation

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