| NSF Org: |
AGS Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | September 27, 2010 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | December 15, 2010 |
| Award Number: | 1039742 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Chungu Lu
AGS Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences GEO Directorate for Geosciences |
| Start Date: | October 1, 2010 |
| End Date: | September 30, 2015 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $1,392,951.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $1,392,951.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
1400 TOWNSEND DR HOUGHTON MI US 49931-1200 (906)487-1885 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
1400 TOWNSEND DR HOUGHTON MI US 49931-1200 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): |
Major Research Instrumentation, Physical & Dynamic Meteorology |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.050 |
ABSTRACT
This effort will develop a laboratory cloud chamber to assess impacts of well-characterized turbulence (generated via Rayleigh-Benard convection) on cloud microphysics and aerosol processing. The cylindrical chamber will have a working volume of 3.14 m**3 and be capable of simulating a full range of tropospherically relevant temperatures and pressures (viz. 50 to 20 degC and 10**4 to 10**5 Pa). Supporting instrumentation will allow for generation and detailed characterization of aerosol and cloud particles, measurement of thermodynamic and turbulent properties, and sampling of particles for subsequent chemical and morphological analysis. Topics of immediate interest would include: turbulence, mixing and associated fluctuations of cloud properties; ice processes, including primary nucleation and secondary ice formation; aerosol and cloud chemistry; and both optical and morphological characterization of aerosols. A numerical cloud model will be adapted to simulate and further evaluate processes occurring within the chamber. Aerosol/cloud-particle transformations and the interactive chemical and turbulent processes that influence them are a major focus of this facility. The Intellectual Merit of this work hinges on improved understanding of processes having strong implications for their proper representation of formation of clouds and precipitation, their interactions with aerosol and chemical constituents, and ultimately the role of clouds in the global climate system.
As to Broader Impacts, this comprehensively equipped cloud chamber facility will represent an important addition to U.S. scientific infrastructure for laboratory-based environmental studies, and will be particularly unique in coupling the ability to simulate clouds occurring in a desirably broad range of atmospheric temperatures and pressures with well-characterized turbulence. The chamber will be housed in the new Great Lakes Research Center, which will provide ready access by investigators residing at Michigan Tech and, after time for required initial development and testing, by investigators from across the U.S.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
The major outcome of this project is the development of a laboratory facility for studying aerosols and clouds under realistic tropospheric conditions: pressures from 50 to 1000 hPa, temperatures from +40 to -55 C, and water vapor supersaturations up to a few percent. The primary part of the facility is a cloud chamber that allows for control not only of the thermodynamic environment, but of aerosol and chemical properties as well as turbulence through Rayleigh-Benard convection. Development of accompanying aerosol and cloud diagnostic instrumentation has also been a part of the project, including tunable diode laser hygrometer, digital holographic system for volumetric cloud imaging and tracking, phase Doppler interferometer for turbulence and cloud measurements, aerosol generation and characterization instruments, and a photoacoustic and nephelometer spectrometer. The facility allows for the generation of clouds through two methods: 1) adiabatic expansion and associated cooling, and 2) mixing of warm and cool, saturated air through turbulent convection. The mixing approach allows cloud conditions to be maintained for for many hours, thereby creating an ideal environment for chemical and aerosol processing, and cloud-turbulence interactions, and optical propagation experiments in which long-time sampling is useful. Many undergraduate and graduate students have been involved with cloud chamber experiments, from characterization to instrument testing and to cloud-aerosol interactions. The associated figures show the cloud chamber laboratory, an outreach event, and an example of a cloud droplet response to changing aerosol conditions as measured in the cloud chamber.
Last Modified: 11/18/2015
Modified by: Raymond A Shaw
