Inside clouds, rain and snow form when water vapor freezes around solid particles that float in Earth's atmosphere, called aerosols . Now, microbiologist Brent Christner of the University of Louisiana has found evidence that most of those aerosols are bacteria. Snow in Antarctica contains the lowest concentrations of biological aerosols, while France and Montana (United States) have the highest concentration of microbes. The discovery, says Christner, could help understand the role that living organisms play in the water cycle, help improve weather predictions and solve drought problems.
The most important thing, according to this researcher, is that everything indicates that " the atmosphere is not an inert layer but a complex biomass interconnected in processes that affect life on the planet ." Although the finding could have practical applications to cause artificial rain, Christner rules out that possibility for the moment since the main bacteria found in the atmosphere has been Pseudomonas syringae , a plant pathogen that attacks tomatoes, beets, wheat and barley, among others. species.
