Despite the urgency to determine the exact role that clouds play in the Arctic weather and climate, our knowledge of how biogenic ice-nucleating particles (bioINP) impact cloud dynamics is highly fragmented and misses an in-depth mechanistic and quantitative foundation, which is among the major reasons for our inability to accurately predict future climatic scenarios in the Arctic. The aim of Tina Santl-Temkivs ERC StG proposal, MIMosA, is to make a significant breakthrough in understanding the impact of bioaerosols on Arctic climate by employing the highly innovative combination of molecular and structural protein work with in situ microbial ecology studies, laboratory simulation experiments and cloud modelling.

In order to improve the MIMosA project and its potential for further support from 2022 onwards Tina Santl-Temkiv has obtained a grant of Dkk 1 206 832 from the DFF - Danish ERC-programme, aimed a.o. at including metagenomics and metaproteomics and generating preliminary results to further test some of the major techniques of MIMosA.

A firm knowledge of the impact of biological matter on cloud formation on Earth will provide an indication of what biomarkers to look for in exoplanetary atmospheres as observation techniques are advancing further in the coming years.