There is life in the cloudsBeyond water particles, aerosols, ice crystals, or dust, a team from the United States discovered that life exists in clouds. Although it was suspected from a long time ago, now we have the real proof that this is so thanks to the experiment they did.
Yes, it is possible that from now on when we raise our eyes to the sky and see the clouds, it is inevitable to think that even living beings exist in them. But that's how it is, and today we are going to explain how this happens. Because this world continues to have surprises and wonders where it seemed that everything was already discovered.
Who and how did the experiment?
A team in California, San Diego, and the US Scripps Oceanographic Institution, took drops of rain and crystallized water (ice) during a flight through the clouds. In the analysis that was made, they discovered that they were composed in addition to dust particles and other organic materials, by bacteria, fungal spores and some plant residues. The analysis actually it was an attempt to figure out how they influence cloud formation.
C-130 plane
The analysis was taken with a C-130 aircraft through the clouds. The plane had a built-in mass spectrometer and an ice chamber. The measurements of the samples were taken "in situ", so it is very important to determine that the measurement is correct without allowing other factors to influence.
How did they get up there?
One of the conclusions that the scientists reached are the wind currents. For example, sand storms that can be caused in Asia, help the formation and crystallization of water droplets in clouds. These when they rise they carry the dust particles, how we have described, and among them the spores of fungus, bacteria, etc. It follows, therefore, that a precipitation that falls in America could transport bacteria from Asia.
Anne-Marine Schmoltner of the American National Science Foundation (NFS), who are the ones who financed the project, said: "now it has been discovered how not only inorganic dust, but also biological particles themselves, play a decisive role in the formation of clouds."
Sure enough, from now on, when you look "up there," you will see more than just condensed water vapor.