Primary Convener:
Jordan Schnell, NOAA Global Systems Laboratory

Convener:
Ali Hossein Mardi, Virginia Tech
Saira Hamid, Arizona State University
Yingxiao Zhang, NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)
Daniel Katz, Cornell University
Yiluan Song, University of Michigan Ann Arbor

Chair:
Jordan Schnell, CIRES/CU
Daniel Katz, Cornell University

Bioaerosols, including pollen, fungal spores, viruses, bacteria, and other cellular fragments, play critical roles in the Earth system. Many bioaerosols are linked to adverse health outcomes, which may be amplified by co-exposure to other pollutants. Like other aerosols, they influence Earth’s radiation budget and alter cloud formation and precipitation processes. Studying the lifecycle of bioaerosols in the atmosphere can inform whether airborne microorganisms are passively transported or can actively survive and function aloft—key considerations for assessing the habitability of other planetary environments. Despite their significance, our understanding of bioaerosol production, emission, atmospheric interactions, and human exposure remains limited by current observational and modeling capabilities.

This session will showcase:

• Detection, characterization, and source-sink dynamics of bioaerosols
• Modeling of bioaerosol production, emission, transport, and interactions with atmospheric chemistry and physics
• Microbial processes in the atmosphere such as nutrient cycling, metabolic pathways, adaptation mechanisms
• Health-related impacts of bioaerosols

Index Terms
0305 Aerosols and particles
0315 Biosphere|atmosphere interactions
0322 Constituent sources and sinks
0240 Public health

Cross-Listed:
B - Biogeosciences
GH - GeoHealth
OS - Ocean Sciences
GC - Global Environmental Change

Neighborhoods:
3. Earth Covering