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Weather-shaping factors: How cloud-dwelling microbes affect our lives

Politiko 2025-06-11 19:01:22

Weather-shaping factors: How cloud-dwelling microbes affect our lives

Trillions of bacteria, fungi, viruses and other microscopic organisms travel through Earth’s atmosphere every day, becoming part of an invisible world that plays a key role in cloud formation, climate and human health. This invisible ecosystem is called the “aerobiome,” a term that encompasses all microbial life moving in the air – and today, thanks to modern technology, it is being better understood than ever before.

Clouds, long viewed as mere veils of water vapor, turn out to be floating islands of life, home to trillions of microbes that can travel thousands of kilometers. These organisms are not passive passengers: they influence climate by helping to form ice in clouds and causing precipitation. One of the most powerful causes of precipitation is the bacterium Pseudomonas, which can seed ice in clouds, directly influencing the precipitation cycle.

Research at a station on the summit of the Puy de Dôme mountain in France has shown that every millimeter of cloud water contains up to 100,000 microbial cells. Scientists have confidently discovered over 28,000 species of bacteria and more than 2,600 species of fungi in this unusual habitat. Some of these microbes not only survive but also grow in the clouds, feeding themselves on organic carbon and directly influencing the chemical composition of the atmosphere.

However, this aerial life also carries risks. Scientists have discovered that bacteria in clouds often carry genes that confer resistance to antibiotics – a major public health concern. In a 2023 study, up to a trillion such genes were found in a single cloud, suggesting that clouds may also be vehicles for the global spread of microbial resistance.

This new reality is changing the way we view clouds and the very air we breathe. What was once considered a sterile zone is now being seen as a dynamic and complex habitat, where microscopic life not only survives but also influences the larger balances of nature. And as researchers observe Earth's clouds, they don't rule out the possibility that the aerobiome exists on other planets—even in the toxic atmosphere of Venus.

In the end, what we perceive as a change in weather may, in fact, be a manifestation of an invisible symbiosis between Earth and the sky – a hidden cycle where life nourishes itself through the clouds.

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