Acquisition of Instrumentation for Enhancing Studies of Aerosol-Cloud Interactions

Colorado State University, Fort Collins CO

Investigators

Abstract

This project involves the purchase of a suite of instruments to study the detailed physical and chemical properties of aerosols and clouds. The instruments are a high-resolution Time-of-Flight Aerosol Mass Spectrometer from Aerodyne for on-line particle composition measurements; a Particle Phase Discriminator for distinguishing supercooled cloud droplets from small ice crystals; a Liquid Chromatograph-Mass Spectrometer for improved characterization of polar organic material in aerosol particles, fog, and clouds; a Cloud Condensation Nucleus counter for detection of aerosol particles that can be used to measure cloud droplet formation, and an Aerosol Generation and Sizing System for the generation of aerosol particles of known size and composition for laboratory studies of cloud nucleation. The planned measurements are central to many key questions in air quality, climate change and hydrological cycling in the atmosphere at the present time, such as the indirect effect of aerosols on climate. The instrumentation will support Colorado State University projects on ice nucleation on aerosol particles, studies of aerosol processing by clouds and fogs, studies of the relationships between particle composition, water uptake, cloud drop/ice crystal formation, and studies of hygroscopic and freezing properties of biogenic and smoke aerosols. A number of academic courses are expected to benefit from the equipment acquisition, and graduate students will gain useful training experience in the use of such equipment. These instruments are also to be made available to researchers outside Colorado State University on a paying basis.