Context
Antarctica is a key regulator of global climate and ocean systems and hosts a surprisingly rich microbial diversity (Malard et al., 2019; Cary et al., 2010). Although remote, Antarctica is connected to other regions through atmospheric transport, a major route by which microorganisms can travel over long distances (Pretorius et al., 2023). Viruses typically disperse not as free particles but attached to soil dust or marine organic aggregates that become incorporated into aerosols. Once airborne, they can be deposited through precipitation, potentially influencing the composition of terrestrial microbial communities (Reche et al., 2018).
Recent studies have shown that similar viral populations can be found in Antarctic surface snow across sites separated by hundreds to thousands of kilometers, suggesting continent-wide atmospheric movement (Rahlff et al., 2022; Reche et al., 2018). The spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 in Antarctic and sub-Antarctic wildlife further illustrates the ecological impact of airborne virus transport (Banyard et al., 2024).
Despite these observations, airborne microbial research in Antarctica remains limited, especially concerning viral diversity (Pearce et al., 2010). Extremely low atmospheric biomass makes sampling and detection technically challenging and contributes to the underrepresentation of airborne viruses in environmental studies (Després et al., 2012).
Monitoring viral communities in isolated environments is therefore crucial to understand their stability, resilience, and potential anthropogenic influences. It’s in this context that the Coriolis systems developed by Bertin helped Das and co-workers to sample airborne viruses under Antarctica’s extreme conditions.
