bacteria important to snow formation?


	bacteria important to snow formation?

splendidus

3-3-2008 5:04 AM

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tags:

snow, rain, bacteria

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://www.clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/70d0e4c5-4080-4b05-b315-1a8d57e84363/C0E2DB44-D6B9-4844-A2F5-FF2CAD028187/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080302-living-snowflakes-bacteria-important-to-snow-formation.html" href="http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080302-living-snowflakes-bacteria-important-to-snow-formation.html" style="font-size: 11px;">arstechnica.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080302-living-snowflakes-bacteria-important-to-snow-formation.html">
Ice formation in the troposphere doesn't tend to happen on its own if the temperatures are higher than -40˚C (coincidentally -40˚F), but biological particulates can catalyze ice formation at higher temperatures by acting as a nucleus.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080302-living-snowflakes-bacteria-important-to-snow-formation.html"><P>
One of the authors of the study, Prof. David Sands, postulates that forming rain or snow is part of the bacterial life cycle; "We think if (the bacteria) couldn't cause ice to form, they couldn't get back down to the ground," Sands said. "As long as it rains, the bacteria grow."
</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080302-living-snowflakes-bacteria-important-to-snow-formation.html"><P>
Sands suggests that changing bacterial populations may affect rainfall; for example, overgrazing during a summer could reduce the bacterial population, resulting in lower raindrop formation, although more work would need to be done to firm up this theory. Regardless, it is an interesting glimpse into the world of the snowflake.
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