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DCOTSS Portable Optical Particle Spectrometer

Harvard’s DCOTSS Portable Optical Particle Spectrometer (DPOPS) is an in situ instrument capable of measuring particle number density as a function of size throughout the troposphere and lower stratosphere. The core instrument (POPS, Handix Scientific, Boulder, CO), re-packaged by Harvard, uses a 405 nm diode laser to count and size individual particles in the size range 140–3000 nm. 3D printing technology was used in the construction of the instrument to reduce cost, manufacturing complexity, and weight. The DPOPS is an optimized POPS system for DCOTSS flight campaign with autonomous operation in flight that requires minimal support between flights. Three major upgrades are: (1) increasing the sampling flow with external pumps to achieve better counting statistics in light of the low particle number density, (2) achieving isokinetic sampling (the velocity of air entering the inlet is equal to the velocity of the approaching gas stream) with a custom inlet to ensure fidelity of sampling with respect to size, and (3) optimizing the tubing system to reduce the loss of particles in the sampling tubes. DPOPS can fly on pressurized or unpressurized aircraft. 
 

Instrument Type: 
Aircraft: 
ER-2 - AFRC, ER-2 - AFRC
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Particle Analysis By Laser Mass Spectrometry- Next Generation

The Purdue PALMS-NG instrument measures single-particle aerosol composition using UV laser ablation to generate ions that are analyzed with a time-of-flight mass spectrometer.  The PALMS size range is approximately 150 to >3000 nm and encompasses most of the accumulation and coarse mode aerosol volume. Individual aerosol particles are classified into compositional classes.  The size-dependent composition data is combined with aerosol counting instruments from Aerosol Microphysical Properties (AMP), the Langley Aerosol Research Group Experiment (LARGE), and other groups to generate quantitative, composition-resolved aerosol concentrations.  Background tropospheric concentrations of climate-relevant aerosol including mineral dust, sea salt, and biomass burning particles are the primary foci for the ATom campaigns.  PALMS also provides a variety of compositional tracers to identify aerosol sources, probe mixing state, track particle aging, and investigate convective transport and cloud processing.

*_Standard data products_**: *

Particle type number fractions: sulfate/organic/nitrate mixtures, biomass burning, EC, sea salt, mineral dust, meteoric, alkali salts, heavy fuel combustion, and other. Sampling times range from 1-5 mins.

*_Advanced data products_**:*

Number, surface area, volume, and mass concentrations of the above particle types. Total sulfate and organic mass concentrations. Relative and absolute abundance of various chemical markers and aerosol sub-components: methanesulfonic acid, sulfate acidity, organic oxidation level, iodine, bromine, organosulfates, pyridine, and other species.

Instrument Type: 
Aircraft: 
ER-2 - AFRC, ER-2 - AFRC, DC-8 - AFRC
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CSU QC-TILDAS Ammonia

Ambient ammonia (NH3) mixing ratios are measured in-situ using a flight-ready, closed-path, optical-based NH3 monitoring system. The CSU-NH3 instrument system consists of a combination of commercially-available and custom-built components including: 1) a commercially-available infrared absorption spectrometer that serves as the heart of the NH3 monitor, 2) a commercially-available inertial inlet that acts as a filter-less separator of particles from the sample stream, 3) a custom-built aircraft inlet, 4) a custom-designed vibration isolation mounting system for the spectrometer, and 5) an optional system for adding passivant to the sample stream.

The heart of the instrument is a closed-path, commercial (Aerodyne Research, Inc.), single-channel, quantum-cascade tunable infrared laser direct absorption spectrometer (QC-TILDAS) [McManus et al., 2010; McManus et al., 1995; Zahniser et al., 1995]. This spectrometer uses a direct absorption technique combined with a high sample flow rate (>10 SLPM) to achieve fast (up to 10 Hz) collection of absolute NH3 mixing ratios. The QC-TILDAS is operated with a heated aerodynamic separator (Aerodyne Research Inc., Inertial Inlet) that provides filter-less separation of particles >300 nm from the sample stream [Ellis et al., 2010]. An injection-style aircraft inlet allows calibration gases to be introduced into the sample stream within a few centimeters of the inlet tip. The custom inlet system is also designed to support the option for active continuous passivation of the sampling sufaces by 1H,1H-perflurooctylamine, a strong perfluorinated base that acts to coat the sampling surfaces with nonpolar chemical groups. Injection of this chemical into the aircraft inlet near the inlet tip prevents adsorption of both water and basic species on the sampling surfaces. The coating has been shown to greatly improve the instrument's time response in the laboratory and aboard research aircraft by increasing transmission of NH3 through the sample flow path [Pollack et al., 2019; Roscioli et al., 2016].

The QC-TILDAS is regularly calibrated on the ground and in flight via standard addition to the sample stream with a known concentration of NH3 generated from a temperature-regulated permeation tube (Kin-Tech), and zeroed by overflowing the inlet tip with a bottled source of NH3-free, synthetic air. The emission rate of the permeation device is calibrated before and after every mission by the NOAA ultraviolet optical absorption system [Neuman et al., 2003]. Allan variance analyses indicate that the in-flight precision of the instrument is 60 ppt at 1 Hz corresponding to a 3-sigma detection limit of 180 ppt. Zero signals span ±200 pptv, or 400 pptv total, with fluctuations in cabin pressure and temperature and altitude in flight. The total uncertainty associated with the 1-Hz measurement is ±(12% of the measured mixing ratio + 200 pptv).

The CSU-NH3 instrument has been successfully deployed (i.e. 100% data coverage) in two prior airborne research campaigns; one on the NSF/NCAR C-130 aircraft during the 2018 Western wildfire Experiment of Cloud Chemistry, Aerosol absorption and Nitrogen (WE-CAN) field campaign and the other aboard the University of Wyoming King Air during the TRANS2Am field campaign in 2019, 2021, and 2022. The aircraft inlet and aerodynamic separator are currently being modified in the laboratory to support lower pressure altitudes such as those anticipated for the full altitude range of the NASA DC-8 aircraft.

Instrument Type: 
Measurements: 
Aircraft: 
NSF/NCAR C-130, University of Wyoming King Air, DC-8 - AFRC
Point(s) of Contact: 

Langley Aerosol Mass Spectrometer

Aerodyne High-Resolution Time-of-Flight Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (AMS) operated by the Langley Aerosol Research Group Experiment (LARGE).  Provides fast-response non-refractory submicron aerosol mass concentrations (e.g., organics, sulfate, nitrate, ammonium, and chloride) and tracer m/z fragments (e.g., m/z44, m/z55, etc.).   

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CU Aircraft Extractive Electrospray Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer

Principle: The CU aircraft Extractive Electrospray Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer (EESI-TOFMS) detects the chemical composition of submicron particulate matter by simultaneous dissolution of the aerosol and soft ionization of its molecular components in an electrospray, followed by detection using time-of-flight mass spectrometry. When operated with positive ion polarity analytes are detected intact as adducts with sodium ions. When operated with negative ion polarity analytes are detected as deprotonated anions.

 

Aircraft Operation: Operated with positive or negative ion polarity, depending on mission goals.

Pressure-controlled EESI region with a maximum sampling altitude of 23 kft. Sensitivity can be increased for boundary layer  sampling by increasing the pressure of the electrospray region.

Calibrated relative to AMS on flight days, and confirmed with absolute calibrations on maintenance days

1s time resolution with 15s background measurements every 4 min.

 

Data Products: 

Positive ion polarity EESI(+): C6H10O5 calibrated as levoglucosan and C6H5NO4 calibrated as nitrocatechol

Negative ion polarity EESI(-): C6H5NO4 calibrated as nitrocatechol
Additional species under development. Species of interest for specific campaigns can be tested and calibrated for.

 

Detection Limits (1s):

C6H10O5 as levoglucosan: 200 ng sm-3

C6H5NO4 as nitrocatechol: 20ng sm-3 EESI(-), 400 ng sm-3 EESI(+)

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G2301-m

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G2301-f

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OSCAR lab

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OSCAR portable

TBD

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NOAA Picarro

The Picarro G2401m is a commerical instrument that measures CO2, CH4, CO, and H2O. The analyzer is based on Wavelength-Scanned Cavity Ring Down Spectroscopy (WS-CRDS), a time-based measurement utilizing a near-infrared laser to measure a spectral signature of the molecule. Gas is circulated in an optical measurement cavity with an effective path length of up to 20 kilometers. A patented, high-precision wavelength monitor makes certain that only the spectral feature of interest is being monitored, greatly reducing the analyzer’s sensitivity to interfering gas species, and enabling ultra-trace gas concentration measurements even if there are other gases present. As a result, the analyzer maintains high linearity, precision, and accuracy over changing environmental conditions with minimal calibration required.

The measurement software of the NOAA Picarro has been modified to have a shorter measurement interval (~1.2 seconds instead of ~2.4 seconds) by reducing the number of scans of the CO spectroscopic peak and therefore yielding a less-precise CO measurement (1σ on 1-2 second measurements is ~9 ppb instead of ~4 ppb). The instrument was also modified to have a lower cell pressure set point (80 torr instead of 140 torr) to allow it to operate across the full pressure altitude range of the DC8 without requiring upstream pressurization of the sample stream.

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