An Airborne, Miniaturized Cloud Condensation Nuclei Counter

The impacts of aerosol on cloud properties remains a major obstacle to better understanding of Earth’s changing energy budget. Quantifying their impacts is a DOE objective and of broader benefit to the public. Cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and ice nucleating particles (INP) have a potentially major impact on cloud droplet number and size, and thereby affect cloud radiative properties, cloud lifetime, and precipitation. Improving observational capabilities for airborne CCN and INP measurements is required to advance understanding and extend current measurements into a wider geographic region, including under-sampled regions, and for longer time periods. There is also a need for smaller, lower-cost and lightweight instruments capable of measuring CCN and INP for use on rapidly advancing unmanned platforms, including unmanned aerial vehicles as well as tethered and free balloons. To address these needs, we propose commercial development of a simple, lower cost, low power consumption and small footprint CCN counter based on the static diffusion chamber design, which will be integrated with a filter and particle sizing systems to provide microphysical aerosol measurement package for use on airborne platforms. The proposed CCN instrument is an extension of the first commercially available CCN counter, which has been significantly overhauled to take advantage of developments of extremely low-cost digital cameras, lasers, mechanical hardware, electronics, computers, and image processing software. We anticipate 1-2 order of magnitude reduction in cost compared to existing commercial CCN counters and large reductions in size and weight (the miniaturized device is approximately 6 x 3 x 3 inches; 600 g). We will build on initial proof-of- concept testing to adapt for airborne measurements, including motion and vibration. Future commercial applications include use by atmospheric researchers seeking a low cost, high performance and easy to use instrument for use on UAS and field studies.