pom202402

An instrument of the Purdue University, West Lafayette, USA was flown to the Sphinx-observatory at Jungfraujoch for a measurement campaign. The PALMS-NG instrument is what we call a single particle mass spectrometer. It measures the size and gives the chemical composition of the particles present in the ambient air. At the Sphinx-laboratory, it is coupled with a cloud chamber from ETH Zurich (HINC-Auto) with objective to help understanding how ice forms in the atmosphere. More specifically, what type of particle has a better chance to trigger the ice nucleation in a cloud, and what is the source of those specific particles. As an example, Saharan dust is already known to have a great ability to form ice in the clouds above the Alps, which might then precipitate snow. Fun fact about PALMS-NG: it is a very new instrument that has been built in collaboration with Purdue University and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to fly on stratospheric research airplanes for NASA. Its very first flight happened early summer 2021 (PALMS-NG : Particle Analysis by Laser Mass Spectrometry – Next Generation). Pictures: HFSJG

An instrument of the Purdue University, West Lafayette, USA was flown to the Sphinx-observatory at Jungfraujoch for a measurement campaign. The PALMS-NG instrument is what we call a single particle mass spectrometer. It measures the size and gives the chemical composition of the particles present in the ambient air. At the Sphinx-laboratory, it is coupled with a cloud chamber from ETH Zurich (HINC-Auto) with objective to help understanding how ice forms in the atmosphere. More specifically, what type of particle has a better chance to trigger the ice nucleation in a cloud, and what is the source of those specific particles. As an example, Saharan dust is already known to have a great ability to form ice in the clouds above the Alps, which might then precipitate snow.
Fun fact about PALMS-NG: it is a very new instrument that has been built in collaboration with Purdue University and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to fly on stratospheric research airplanes for NASA. Its very first flight happened early summer 2021 (PALMS-NG : Particle Analysis by Laser Mass Spectrometry – Next Generation). Pictures: HFSJG