Sanchez-Marroquin, A orcid.org/0000-0003-4510-4551, Hedges, DHP, Hiscock, M et al. (7 more authors) (2019) Characterisation of the filter inlet system on the FAAM BAe-146 research aircraft and its use for size-resolved aerosol composition measurements. Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 12 (11). pp. 5741-5763. ISSN 1867-1381
Abstract
Atmospheric aerosol particles are important for our planet's climate because they interact with radiation and clouds. Hence, having characterised methods to collect aerosol from aircraft for detailed offline analysis are valuable. However, collecting aerosol, particularly coarse-mode aerosol, onto substrates from a fast-moving aircraft is challenging and can result in both losses and enhancement in particles. Here we present the characterisation of an inlet system designed for collection of aerosol onto filters on board the Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM) BAe-146-301 Atmospheric Research Aircraft. We also present an offline scanning electron microscopy (SEM) technique for quantifying both the size distribution and size-resolved composition of the collected aerosol. We use this SEM technique in parallel with online underwing optical probes in order to experimentally characterise the efficiency of the inlet system. We find that the coarse-mode aerosol is sub-isokinetically enhanced, with a peak enhancement at around 10 µm up to a factor of 2 under recommended operating conditions. Calculations show that the efficiency of collection then decreases rapidly at larger sizes. In order to minimise the isokinetic enhancement of coarse-mode aerosol, we recommend sampling with total flow rates above 50 L min−1; operating the inlet with the bypass fully open helps achieve this by increasing the flow rate through the inlet nozzle. With the inlet characterised, we also present single-particle chemical information obtained from X-ray spectroscopy analysis, which allows us to group the particles into composition categories.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Earth and Environment (Leeds) > Earth Surface Science Institute (ESSI) (Leeds) The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Earth and Environment (Leeds) > Inst for Climate & Atmos Science (ICAS) (Leeds) The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Earth and Environment (Leeds) > National Centre for Atmos Science (NCAS) (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number EU - European Union 648661 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 31 Oct 2019 12:13 |
Last Modified: | 17 Dec 2024 14:50 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | European Geosciences Union |
Identification Number: | 10.5194/amt-12-5741-2019 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:152886 |