Descripción del proyecto
Medición única para la nucleación del hielo en la atmósfera
Las partículas de aerosoles atmosféricos que pueden nuclear hielo reciben comúnmente la denominación de partículas de nucleación del hielo (INP, por sus siglas en inglés). Estudios recientes han corroborado que las partículas de aerosoles emitidas por los océanos pueden actuar como INP. Con todo, la distribución mundial de INP es extremadamente baja, en parte debido a la falta de instrumentación necesaria para cuantificar las partículas. El objetivo del proyecto financiado con fondo europeos CountIce es desarrollar el primer equipo para medir automáticamente INP atmosféricas. El equipo, denominado PINE, permite la formación repetida de una nube artificial y el recuento de los cristales de hielo resultantes, lo que puede permitir la medición de la concentración de INP.
Objetivo
It is becoming increasingly clear that a class of atmospheric aerosol particles which catalyse ice formation have a profound impact on clouds, precipitation and climate. For example, recent research demonstrates that massive cloud systems the size of Western Europe are almost completely removed by sufficient ice nucleating particles. However, the global distribution of ice nucleating particles is extremely poorly characterised, in part due to the lack of instrumentation which can be used for the autonomous quantification of these important particles. In my ERC Consolidator grant (MarineIce) we have developed the first instrument to automatically measure atmospheric ice nucleating particles: the Portable expansion chamber for Ice Nucleating particle mEasurements (PINE). PINE allows the repeated formation of an artificial cloud and counting of resulting ice crystals which allows us to derive the ice nucleating particle concentration.
The overarching goal of CountIce is to demonstrate that the PINE chamber can indeed be used to quantify the ice nucleating particle concentration in the atmosphere while being autonomous, easy to use, have high sensitivity and low background counts, have a high time resolution, and work over a wide range of temperatures (relevant to the full spectrum of clouds that form in the Earth’s atmosphere). CountIce will therefore create value in PINE, allowing us to take the necessary steps towards commercial products which will be aimed at i) the atmospheric research community; ii) the cloud seeding community and the iii) the global atmospheric monitoring networks.
CountIce will give my team the time and resources needed to adapt and develop PINE into an instrument which meets the needs of paying customers, provide the demonstration of its use in an atmospheric observatory, produce technical marketing materials, assess significant markets and develop an evidence based business plan.
Ámbito científico
Palabras clave
Programa(s)
Régimen de financiación
ERC-POC - Proof of Concept GrantInstitución de acogida
LS2 9JT Leeds
Reino Unido