Aerosol Data Weissfluhjoch

Aerosol properties were measured between February 8 and March 31 2019 at the measurement site Weissfluhjoch (LON: 9.806475, LAT: 46.832964). Optical and aerodynamic particle counters, as well as a scanning mobility particle size spectrometer and an ice nuclei counter were deployed to report particle concentrations and size distributions in fine (10-1000 nm) and coarse mode (> 1000 nm), cloud condensation nuclei concentrations (CCNCs), and ice nuclei particle concentrations (ICNCs). The ambient particles were transported via a heated inlet to be distributed to the particle detecting devices inside the setup room.

Optical Particle Counter (OPC): Light scattering of a diode laser beam caused by travelling particles is used in the both, the OPC-N3 (0.41 - 38.5 μm) and GT-526S (0.3 – 5 μm), to determine their size and number concentration. For the OPC-N3, particle size spectra and concentration data are used afterwards to calculate PM₁, PM₂,₅ and PM₁₀ (assumptions: particle density: 1.65 g cmˉ³, refractive index: 1.5+i0).

Aerodynamic Particle Sizer (APS): The APS (3321, TSI Inc.) measured the particle size distribution for aerodynamic diameters between 0.5 μm and ~20 μm by the particle’s time-of-flight and light-scattering intensity (assumptions: particle density 1 g cmˉ³).

Scanning Mobility Particle Size Spectrometer (SMPS): Particle number concentrations in a size range between 12 and 460 nm (electrical mobility diameter) were measured at Davos Wolfgang, using a Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer Spectrometer (SMPS 3938, TSI Inc.). The classifier (3082, TSI Inc.) was equipped with a neutralizer (3088, TSI Inc.) and a differential mobility analyzer working with negative polarity (3081, TSI Inc.). The size selected particles were counted by a water-based condensation particle counter (3787 TSI Inc.). The TSI AIM software was used to provide particle size distributions by applying multiple charge and diffusion loss corrections (assumptions: particle density 1 g cmˉ³).

Coriolis μ and LINDA: A microbial air sampler (Coriolis μ, bertin Instruments) was used to collect airborne particles for investigating their ice nucleating ability with a droplet freezing device. Particles larger than 0.5 μm were drawn with an air flow rate of up to 300 l min‾¹ into the cone and centrifuged into the wall of the cone due to the forming vortex. The liquid sample was transferred into the LED based Ice Nucleation Detection Apparatus (LINDA, University of Basel) to study heterogeneous ice formation (immersion freezing mode) of ambient airborne particles.