Abstract

This second progress report describes the status of the project one and one-half years after the start. The goal of the project is to develop the instrumentation to collect cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) in sufficient amounts to determine their chemical composition, and to survey the CCN composition in different climates through a series of field measurements. Our approach to CCN collection is to first form droplets on the nuclei under simulated cloud humidity conditions, which is the only known method of identifying CCN from the background aerosol. Under cloud chamber conditions, the droplets formed become larger than the surrounding aerosol, and can then be removed by inertial impaction. The residue of the evaporated droplets represents the sample to be chemically analyzed. Two size fractions of CCN particles are collected by first forming droplets on the larger CCN in a haze chamber at 100% relative humidity, and then activating the remaining CCN at 1% supersaturation in a cloud chamber. The experimental apparatus is a series flow arrangement consisting of an impactor to remove the large aerosol particles, a haze chamber to form droplets on the remaining larger CCN, another impactor to remove the haze droplets containing the larger CCN particles for chemical analysis, a continuous flow diffusion (CFD) cloud chamber to form droplets on the remaining smaller CCN, and a third impactor to remove the droplets for the small CCN sample. Progress is documented here on the development of each of the major components of the flow system. Chemical results are reported on tests to determine suitable wicking material for the different plates. Results of computer modeling of various impactor flows are discussed. The appendices include a paper to be published in the proceedings of the Precipitation Scavenging Conference held in Richland, Washington in July 1991, and a paper being submitted to the Journal of Applied Meteorology.

Department(s)

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Second Department

Physics

Third Department

Chemistry

Comments

Second Progress Report, Contract Report 522

Grant Number DE-FO2-90ER61017

Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Health and Environmental Research, Washington, D.C.

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

0733-3927

Document Type

Technical Report

Document Version

Final Version

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Publication Date

01 Feb 1992

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