Evaluation of a Perpendicular Inlet for Airborne Sampling of Interstitial Submicron Black-Carbon Aerosol

Authors

A. E. Perring, Chemical Sciences Division, Earth Systems Research Lab, National Oceanic and Atmospheric AdministrationFollow
J. P. Schwarz, Chemical Sciences Division, Earth Systems Research Lab, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, Colorado
R. S. Gao, Chemical Sciences Division, Earth Systems Research Lab, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, Colorado
A. J. Heymsfield, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado
C. G. Schmitt, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado
M. Schnaiter, Institute for Meteorology and Climate Research, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany
D. W. Fahey, Chemical Sciences Division, Earth Systems Research Lab, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Date of this Version

2013

Citation

Aerosol Science and Technology, 47:1066–1072, 2013

Comments

U.S. Government Work

Abstract

The majority of airborne aerosol measurements employ forward-facing inlets with near-isokinetic sampling; these inlets have known artifacts when sampling in clouds such that data taken in cloud must typically be discarded. Here we report first results from a perpendicular inlet for sampling interstitial submicron black-carbon (BC) containing aerosol. The inlet, consisting of a flat plate to stabilize flow prior to perpendicular sampling, was evaluated using a single particle soot photometer (SP2) aboard the NASA WB-57F aircraft during the Midlatitude Airborne Cirrus Properties Experiment (MACPEX) of 2011. The new inlet rejects large particles and is free of aerosol artifacts when sampling in ice clouds while allowing sampling of submicron BC-containing aerosol with the same unit efficiency as a validated isokinetic inlet, thus allowing for airborne sampling of interstitial BC aerosol.