An Automated Aerosol Mass Spectrometer for the Regular Chemical Characterization of Aerosol Particles in the Upper Troposphere and Lowermost Stratosphere(AMS-CARIBIC)
Final Report Abstract
For the AMS-CARIBIC project a brand-new small Aerosol Mass Spectrometer type (Aerodyne mini-AMS) was acquired, reconstructed, and modified to meet the requirements for automatic airborne operation in the IAGOS-CARIBIC-container (www.iagos.org). The modified instrument is now called CARIBIC-AMS. This work was carried out in a joint DFG project by the Johannes–Gutenberg University, Mainz, the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz, and the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research, Leipzig. The original mini-AMS had to be mechanically redesigned to fit into the available space in an existing 19"-rack of the IAGOS-CARIBIC-container. The new instrument is small (45 x 57 x 63 cm, WDH) and weighs only 76 kg, which are both relatively small numbers for a mass spectrometer. Additionally, the aircraft safety requirements with respect to mechanical stability, electromagnetic compatibility, and fire safety had to be and were met. The new aerosol MS can fully-automated measure the chemical composition of non-refractory aerosol particles (e.g., sulfate, nitrate, organics) in the particle diameter size range of about 60 to 800 nm at operating pressures of 100-1100 hPa over a period of one week. The automatic operation inside the IAGOS-CARIBIC-container required a new design of the inlet system including installation of automatic valves and a pressure control system. The data acquisition software had to be automated and the start-up procedures had to be changed compared to the original mini-AMS version. The instrument hardware and software had to be secured against power failures by installing capacitors that maintain power sufficiently long to stop data acquisition, shut all valves, and shut down the computer. The CARIBIC-AMS was installed into the IAGOS-CARIBIC-container in January 2017 and was successfully operated during the container electromagnetic interference (EMI) test end of January 2017. The whole container passed this test successfully. In order to fly the CARIBIC-AMS, only the IAGOS-CARIBIC-container as a whole, but not individual instruments, has to get an aviation license. Currently (July 2017) last safety tests (smoke detector test) are conducted in cooperation with Lufthansa Technik. It is expected that the modified IAGOS-CARIBIC-container, and thus the CARIBIC-AMS, will have their first measurement flight in September 2017. The CARIBIC-AMS will be flown for four consecutive inter-continental flights per month, intended for the next 10 years, generating a worldwide unique data set on the chemical composition of atmospheric aerosol particles at 7-13 km altitude. ARTE showed a documentation on CARIBIC in the “Xenius” magazine on 25.11.2015.
Publications
- An Aerodyne mini-AMS for UT/LMS measurements within the Civil Aircraft for Regular Investigation of the Atmosphere Based on an Instrument Container (CARIBIC) project, European Aerosol Conference (EAC), Milano, Italy, 06. - 11. September 2015
Rubach, F., Hermann, M., Schneider, J., Wiedensohler, A., and Borrmann, S.
- An Aerodyne mini-AMS for UT/LMS aerosol measurements within IAGOS-CARIBIC, IAGOS Scientific Symposium on Atmospheric Composition, Manchester, UK, 17.-19. October 2016
Rubach, F., Hermann. M., Schneider, J., Wiedensohler, A., and Borrmann, S.
