Research project Unravelling the Role of marine biopolymers in cloud formation in the High Arctic

The rise in summer sea-ice melt is expected to intensify Arctic warming. However, might these same conditions also enhance the activity of marine microbiota, increase cloud cover, and mitigate the melting?

• We will use samples collected during the 2018 North Pole cruise (MOCCHA: Microbiology-Ocean-Cloud-Connection-in the High Arctic) to answer these cross-disciplinary questions through laboratory determinations and simulations.
• We will conduct genomic analyses of the Arctic habitat to link marine polymer gels (polysaccharides, proteins, and amino acids) in aerosols and clouds to oceanic biota.
• We will also develop cutting-edge mass spectrometry to characterize the cloud-forming biomolecules.
• We will explore studies of biopolymer aqueous solutions using liquid-jet photoelectron spectroscopy and molecular simulations to examine the cloud-forming properties of polymer gels.

A fundamental understanding of the molecular level of the controls of high Arctic clouds will be gained if successful.