| Popis: |
Ice nucleating particles (INPs) influence the timing and amount of precipitation in mixed-phase clouds by acting as seeds for supercooled liquid droplets to form ice upon. High-resolution, long-term measurements of ice nucleating particles (INPs) have been impeded by complex instrumentation that requires a trained on-site technician to operate or analyze offline. We have significantly updated the well-characterized continuous flow diffusion chamber (CFDC) instrument to run autonomously with minimal in-person handling and easy remote access. This new CFDC, the CFDC-Ice Activation Spectrometer (CFDC-IAS) was deployed for four months (October 2020–January 2021) at the mountain-top Storm Peak Laboratory site in Colorado and provided 5-minute resolution measurements daily at target temperatures of -20, -25, and -30 °C. Concentrations of INPs across all temperatures had a median value of 6 per standard liter (sL-1), and a mean of 10 sL-1 with a range of ~0–470 sL-1. The CFDC-IAS was served once a week by a technician who changed out diffusion dryer desiccant and replaced the nitrogen tank as needed, and otherwise was operated remotely for desired changes in the sampling routine. |
