Immersion freezing of surface dust particles from Tengger Desert in China: effects of mineral composition and aging treatments on ice nucleating activity
- 1Xiamen University (Xiamen, China)
Abstract
Mineral dust is a major source of ice nucleating particles (INPs) and thereby influences cloud properties, precipitation, and radiative forcing. However, the ice nucleation properties of natural dust and their response to atmospheric aging remain poorly constrained. Here, we investigated immersion freezing (IMF) of surface-collected dust from Tengger Desert, China, and examined the effects of internal mixing with ammonium sulfate (AS), NaCl, H ₂ SO ₄ , and HNO ₃ , as well as heat treatment. Median freezing temperature ( T ₅₀ ) of Tengger Desert dust increased from 253.6 to 258.5 K as dust mass fraction increased from 1.4 × 10 ⁻⁴ wt % to 1.0 × 10 ⁻¹ wt %. A minor increase in feldspar content (∼ 2 % in surface area) quantified by single particle analysis may contribute to the enhanced ice nucleation active site density ( N s ). Internal mixing with AS enhanced IMF activity, with the enhancements of T ₅₀ (0.4–4.7 K), N s , and heterogeneous ice nucleation rate coefficient ( J het ) exhibiting sigmoidal response to AS concentration from 5 × 10 ⁻⁵ to 5 × 10 ⁻² M. This sigmoidal response is consistent with a possible contribution from NH4+ adsorption on dust surface. NaCl and acids (H ₂ SO ₄ and HNO ₃ ), as well as heat treatment, had no impact on the overall IMF activity in terms of T ₅₀ , although modest changes in N s were observed above 258 K. We developed experimentally constrained sensitivity parameterizations of N s and J het for Tengger Desert dust with and without aging, which may be used in cloud modeling to study how atmospheric aging modifies the ice nucleation of natural dust.
Versions
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BibTeX
@article{xue2026immersion,
title = {{Immersion freezing of surface dust particles from Tengger Desert in China: effects of mineral composition and aging treatments on ice nucleating activity}},
author = {Jiao Xue and Shengkai Wang and Haoyu Qi and Yao Yao and Shulan Chen and Yingjie Zhou and Juying Lu and Tian Zhang and Qi Wang and Defeng Zhao and Youwei Hong and Yihua Cai and Bingbing Wang},
journal = {Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.5194/acp-26-15081-2026},
url = {https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-15081-2026},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Immersion freezing of surface dust particles from Tengger Desert in China: effects of mineral composition and aging treatments on ice nucleating activity
AU - Jiao Xue
AU - Shengkai Wang
AU - Haoyu Qi
AU - Yao Yao
AU - Shulan Chen
AU - Yingjie Zhou
AU - Juying Lu
AU - Tian Zhang
AU - Qi Wang
AU - Defeng Zhao
AU - Youwei Hong
AU - Yihua Cai
AU - Bingbing Wang
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/27
JO - Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
DO - 10.5194/acp-26-15081-2026
UR - https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-15081-2026
AB - Mineral dust is a major source of ice nucleating particles (INPs) and thereby influences cloud properties, precipitation, and radiative forcing. However, the ice nucleation properties of natural dust and their response to atmospheric aging remain poorly constrained. Here, we investigated immersion freezing (IMF) of surface-collected dust from Tengger Desert, China, and examined the effects of internal mixing with ammonium sulfate (AS), NaCl, H ₂ SO ₄ , and HNO ₃ , as well as heat treatment. Median freezing temperature ( T ₅₀ ) of Tengger Desert dust increased from 253.6 to 258.5 K as dust mass fraction increased from 1.4 × 10 ⁻⁴ wt % to 1.0 × 10 ⁻¹ wt %. A minor increase in feldspar content (∼ 2 % in surface area) quantified by single particle analysis may contribute to the enhanced ice nucleation active site density ( N s ). Internal mixing with AS enhanced IMF activity, with the enhancements of T ₅₀ (0.4–4.7 K), N s , and heterogeneous ice nucleation rate coefficient ( J het ) exhibiting sigmoidal response to AS concentration from 5 × 10 ⁻⁵ to 5 × 10 ⁻² M. This sigmoidal response is consistent with a possible contribution from NH4+ adsorption on dust surface. NaCl and acids (H ₂ SO ₄ and HNO ₃ ), as well as heat treatment, had no impact on the overall IMF activity in terms of T ₅₀ , although modest changes in N s were observed above 258 K. We developed experimentally constrained sensitivity parameterizations of N s and J het for Tengger Desert dust with and without aging, which may be used in cloud modeling to study how atmospheric aging modifies the ice nucleation of natural dust.
SN - 1680-7324
ER -