Research Projects and Collaborative Efforts

The goals of the EOL group were/are to participate in the development and operation of the chamber (known as the PI-Chamber) The chamber allows studying turbulent multiphase (water in the vapor, liquid, and solid phase) cloud-aerosol interactions in a controlled environment with a volume up to ~4 cubic meters. 

In the EOL we contributed by developing a NIR tunable diode laser hygrometer. Currently, we are working on developing a remote sensing system to measure water vapor and temperature in the chamber using Raman spectroscopy.

See video about the chamber here

The Pico Mountain Observatory is located at 2225 m above sea level, close to the summit of Pico Mountain on Pico Island in the Azores. The unique location allows for measuring free tropospheric air masses often originating from North America after crossing the North Atlantic. 

The station was established in 2001 by the late Richard Honrath and it has been running since then, mostly during the summer seasons. 

Currently measured atmospheric parameters include carbon monoxide, ozone, non-methane hydrocarbons, meteorological parameters, aerosol size distributions, and black carbon concentration.  In the summer of 2012, we installed additional aerosol instrumentation including high-volume samplers for aerosol chemical speciation, a nephelometer to measure total and backward aerosol scattering at three wavelengths, aerosol samplers for electron microscopy analysis, and an optical particle counter. Sampling continued in the summer of 2013 and the station closed for the season in mid-October. The two projects (one funded by DOE, the other by the NSF) include collaborators at the University of the Azores, Colorado University, and the University of Illinois. 

Nature highlights the station 

CARES (Carbonaceous Aerosol and Radiative Effects Study - 2010) and ClearfLo (Clear Air for London - 2012) were two field campaigns aimed at studying aerosol properties in the atmosphere. We collected aerosols on several filters during both campaigns and our role in this project is that of analyzing these particles using an electron microscope to study their morphological properties and their mixing. We study aerosol properties by looking at their shape, their semi-quantitative elemental composition, and the mixing of different particle types (e.g., dust with soot). We also focus our attention on carbonaceous aggregates (soot) and study their atmospheric processing and aging by estimating the coating on these aggregates by other substances, as well as by calculating their fractal-like properties. Under this project, we will also participate in chamber experiments where we will attempt to reproduce different aerosol mixtures and morphologies that might mimic atmospheric conditions. This study will provide similar information to those studied during wildfires sampling as discussed by China et al. (2013).  

• • Develop a multiwavelength aerosol spectrometer to measure aerosol absorption and scattering using photoacoustic and nephelometry techniques

The aim of this project is to measure the "ability" (efficiency) of different aerosol types and sizes to act as ice nucleators in the contact mode. One of our group's main goals in the project is to develop an acoustic levitation technique to allow for freezing single droplets in contactless conditions. A second principal goal is to investigate these nucleation processes with the use of optical techniques. 

Look at a video demonstration of the acoustic levitation of a small object in the Environmental Optics Lab at MTU (by Arin Nelson - physics undergraduate student)

This project aims at developing a multiwavelength photoacoustic and nephelometer spectrometer to measure aerosol optical properties by integrating a photoacoustic/nephelometer cell with our supercontinuum laser. 

The project includes collaborators at the Desert Research Institute and the University of Nevada Reno.

The aim of this project was to get preliminary results on the possibility of using quartz-enhanced photoacoustic techniques to measure aerosol absorption. Mat Hollinger, a former Master's student, together with Nicholas Black, and especially with the fundamental contribution of Jordan Hagen, wrote a short report as partial fulfillment for his Master's degree in physics.