A New Instrument for Balloon-Borne In Situ Aerosol Size Distribution Measurements, the Continuation of a 50 Year Record of Stratospheric Aerosols Measurements.

ABSTRACT: Profiles of stratospheric aerosol size distributions have been measured using balloon-borne in situ optical particle counters, from Laramie, Wyoming (41°N) since 1971. In 2019, this measurement record transitioned to the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) in Boulder, Colorado (40°N). The new LASP Optical Particle Counter (LOPC), the fourth generation of instruments used for this record, is smaller and lighter (2 kg) than prior instruments, measures aerosols with diameters ≥0.3-30 μm in up to 450 size bins, with a flow rate of 20 L min^-1. The improved size resolution enables the complete measurement of size distributions, and calculation of aerosol extinction without fitting a priori distribution shapes. The higher flow provides the sensitivity requ

SUBMITTER: Kalnajs LE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10078550 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature