Development of size and time-resolved automated aerosol sampler for unmanned aerial systems
EMSL Project ID
51252
Abstract
The radiative forcing of the ambient aerosol is strongly influenced by the vertical distribution of aerosols and their chemical composition, and not well constrained in climate models. Both satellite observation and ground-based measurements are not currently able to provide well-resolved vertical profiles of aerosols. Aircraft observations from large-scale field campaigns can provide useful data but have limited temporal coverage. Deployment of an unmanned aerial system such as ARM’s tethered balloon system (TBS) can provide important information about the vertical profile of aerosol with longer temporal coverage. Determining size resolved chemical composition of particles is crucial for understanding several atmospheric processes, including warm and cold cloud formation, but challenging to accomplish using currently available sampling devices. There are several commercial and custom-made aerosol samplers available, which provide either size-resolved or time-resolved data. In addition, some of the commercial samplers are heavy weight and thus not suitable for TBS sampling. In this study we will develop and deploy an automated Size and Time-resolved Aerosol Collector (STAC) and Time-resolved Bulk Aerosol Collector (TBAC) for unmanned aerial systems for characterization of atmospheric aerosol using EMSL’s microscopy, spectroscopy and mass spectrometry platforms. The automated sampler proposed here will enable collection of samples with broad size range (100 nm-5.0 µm) and high time resolution (~ few seconds).
Project Details
Project type
Scientific Partner
Start Date
2020-01-16
End Date
2022-01-31
Status
Closed
Released Data Link
Team
Principal Investigator
Co-Investigator(s)
Team Members