The phase separation inlet for droplets, ice residuals, and interstitial aerosols

A new inlet for studying the composition of mixed-phase clouds - the phaSe seParation Inlet for Droplets icE residuals and inteRstitial aerosols (SPIDER) - is described. SPIDER combines an omni-directional inlet, a Large-Pumped Counterflow Virtual Impactor (L-PCVI), a flow tube as evaporation chamber, and a Pumped Counterflow Virtual Impactor (PCVI) to separate droplets, ice crystals, and interstitial aerosols for simultaneous sampling. Verification tests of each individual component of SPIDER were positive, as was the result of investigating that the components work together as a whole setup without flow blockage or choking. SPIDER was installed at Mt. Washington Observatory (MWO), a mountain top research facility in the White Mountains, for a two-week field campaign. There, SPIDER showed promising performance as a field instrument and provided first data that suggest its capability of separating distinct cloud particles. Future design improvements of SPIDER are suggested along with potential locations for field measurements.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2018

Author dc:creator

• Koolik, Libby (Libby P.)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Daniel Cziczo.

• Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/115782

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/115782