AAAR 37th Annual Conference October 14 - October 18, 2019 Oregon Convention Center Portland, Oregon, USA
Abstract View
Ground- and Aerial-Based Platforms to Measure Aerosol Size Distributions: Spatiotemporal Variability, Vertical Profiles, and Near Source Sampling
SHANTANU JATHAR, Liam Lewane, Dylan Giardina, Shiva Tarun, Joshua Weller, Alex Lieberman, Kepler Worobec, Vance Payne, Tim Gordon, Gavin McMeeking, Colorado State University
Abstract Number: 701 Working Group: Air Quality Sensors: Low-cost != Low Complexity
Abstract The aerosol size distribution plays an important role in influencing the earth’s radiative budget, cloud formation and properties, human health, and visibility. However, given the complexity, footprint, and cost of instrumentation, aerosol size distributions are not routinely measured, and data are generally restricted to short durations during intensive field campaigns. In this work, we leverage a light weight, low power, and lower cost optical particle counter called the POPS (portable optical particle spectrometer) manufactured by Handix Scientific to measure aerosol size distributions via ground- and aerial-based platforms. Our ground-based platform, the aPOPS (autonomous POPS), comprises a POPS, a solar-powered battery system, and an IoT (Internet of Things) module. The power system includes a 100 W photovoltaic solar panel charging a 36 Ah battery pack, which provides sufficient power for continuous year-round operation in Colorado. The IoT module is a cellular-based microcontroller that transmits aerosol size distribution data for up to 20 size bins to the Cloud every minute. A network of aPOPS systems will be deployed at four distinct locations over several weeks in Fort Collins, CO to investigate the spatial and temporal heterogeneity in aerosol size distributions within an urban environment. Our aerial-based platform, the UAV-POPS, comprises of a POPS, a CO2 sensor, and an integrated IoT control board in an enclosure mounted on a hexacopter drone (Matrice 600). The IoT board processes and transmits the total aerosol number and volume concentrations and CO2 data to the Cloud every twenty seconds. The UAV-POPS was deployed to measure vertical profiles in urban and suburban locations in Fort Collins, CO and will be deployed to measure aerosol emissions within prescribed burn plumes in the Colorado Front Range. Our work highlights the emerging area of using portable, lower cost sensors in environmental science research.