Possible Application of Bacterial Condensation Freezing to Artificial Rainfall Enhancement

Abstract

Both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria become excellent condensation nuclei when lyophilized to dryness. The same freeze-dry procedure does not inactivate the highly effective freezing nuclei produced by ice nucleation active bacteria. Therefore, irrespective of their contact nucleation potential, ice nucleation-active bacteria ought to effect condensation freezing at ?10°C of warmer in cloud systems. Output from a numerical cloud model suggests that the condensation freezing capability of ice nucleation-active bacteria at warmer temperatures could be exploited to produce rainfall from clouds too warm to respond positively to inorganic nucleants like silver iodide.