The AOS Inlet Efficiency Characterization Experiment: Measurement and Model Comparison
Authors
Robert Lesley Bullard — Brookhaven National Laboratory
Janek Uin — Brookhaven National Laboratory
Scott Smith — Brookhaven National Laboratory
Cynthia A Salwen — Brookhaven National Laboratory
Stephen R. Springston — Brookhaven National Laboratory
Chongai Kuang — Brookhaven National Laboratory
Category
ARM infrastructure
Description
The U.S. Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility currently operates aerosol observing systems (AOS) for studying aerosols and their participation in cloud formation and interaction with incoming solar radiation. The AOS platforms employ inlet stack and flow distribution systems to quickly transport air from the ambient to the instrumentation housed in the climate-controlled container. The degree to which aerosols are lost during sample transport depends on their size, and experimental characterizations of these losses are limited. In this study, experiments were performed with aerosol-sizing instruments spanning the size range from 10 nanometers to 20 microns. Ambient aerosol was used to characterize the AOS inlet transport efficiencies by using a combination of [1] simultaneous sampling from pairs of instruments both inside and outside the AOS and [2] three-way switching valves to sample from the two locations using the same instrument. Presented results will include the measured AOS inlet efficiency and a comparison with theoretical transport losses.
