IVPFSTIRC

Investigating Vertical Profiles of composition and abundance of Fungal Spores and Their Impacts on Regional Climate

1 October 2025 - 30 September 2026

Lead Scientist: Allison Steiner

Observatory: AMF (ARM Mobile Facility 3)

Tethered balloon system (TBS) samples will be collected to observe fungal spores in the atmosphere at the ARM Bankhead National Forest (BNF) site in Alabama. From March to July 2026, 12 flights (three per month) will be conducted at BNF to understand the contribution of fungal spores to aerosol particles above the atmospheric surface layer and their impacts on cloud formation. Fungal spores and ambient aerosols will be collected using a TBS equipped with the size- and time-resolved aerosol collector (STAC) with a 4-stage impactor. Additionally, the ice nucleation spectrometer (INS) will also be deployed on the TBS to collect samples for offline ice nucleating particles (INP) composition analysis and to evaluate the contribution of fungal spores to the INP population. Aerosol samples up to approximately 2.5 microns will be collected at 250m intervals, and offline analysis will include size-resolved particle composition, mixing state, and hygroscopicity. The objectives of this campaign are to (1) calculate the contribution of airborne fungal spores at different altitudes and (2) characterize their cloud-influencing properties.