HR: 1340h
AN: A13C-0936    [Abstracts]
TI: Development of a Fast-Response Ultraviolet Absorption Ozone Sensor: Design and First Results
AU: * Avallone, L M
EM: linnea.avallone@lasp.colorado.edu
AF: Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, 1234 Innovation Drive, Boulder, CO 80303 United States
AU: Kalnajs, L E
EM: lars.kalnajs@colorado.edu
AF: Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, 1234 Innovation Drive, Boulder, CO 80303 United States
AB: Ozone is one of the most important trace gases in the atmosphere. In the stratosphere it absorbs solar ultraviolet radiation, serving a dual role by protecting life on earth from UV damage and by influencing the temperature structure of that part of the atmosphere. In the lower troposphere, ozone is a pollutant formed by photochemical transformations of anthropogenic emissions such as nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons. In the tropopause region, ozone serves as a powerful greenhouse gas by virtue of its absorption feature at 9.6 μm. Hence, gaining a better understanding of the distribution and variability of ozone abundances and the chemical and dynamical processes that determine the distributions is a critical scientific objective. We have designed a fast-response sensor to measure ozone by ultraviolet absorption. An early version of this instrument flew on two airborne campaigns - COBRA (1999, UND Cessna Citation) and SOLVE (1999/00, DC-8, Arctic) - where it provided 10-second measurements of ozone throughout the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. Recent laboratory work has resulted in vastly improved instrument electronics, allowing for 10 Hz measurements with a precision of better than 20 ppb. Instrument performance and sensitivity have been demonstrated with ground-based measurements in the Antarctic and airborne measurements from the NASA WB-57F during the Plume Ultrafast Measurements Acquisition (PUMA) project. The instrument is compact, lightweight (less than 35 lbs), and power-efficient (less than 100 W), so it is also ideally suited to the UAV environment where power and payload weight are restricted. In this presentation we describe the instrument design and illustrate its performance throughout the troposphere and lower stratosphere.
DE: 0340 Middle atmosphere: composition and chemistry
DE: 0345 Pollution: urban and regional (0305, 0478, 4251)
DE: 0365 Troposphere: composition and chemistry
DE: 0394 Instruments and techniques
SC: Atmospheric Sciences [A]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005