The SPectrometer for Ice Nuclei (SPIN): an instrument to investigate ice nucleation

• Published in: Atmospheric measurement techniques Vol. 9; no. 7; pp. 2781 - 2795
• Main Authors: Garimella, Sarvesh, Kristensen, Thomas Bjerring, Ignatius, Karolina, Welti, Andre, Voigtländer, Jens, Kulkarni, Gourihar R, Sagan, Frank, Kok, Gregory Lee, Dorsey, James, Nichman, Leonid, Rothenberg, Daniel Alexander, Rösch, Michael, Kirchgäßner, Amélie Catharina Ruth, Ladkin, Russell, Wex, Heike, Wilson, Theodore W, Ladino, Luis Antonio, Abbatt, Jon P. D, Stetzer, Olaf, Lohmann, Ulrike, Stratmann, Frank, Cziczo, Daniel James
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Katlenburg-Lindau Copernicus GmbH 06.07.2016; European Geosciences Union; Copernicus Publications
• Subjects: Ammonium; Ammonium compounds; Ammonium salts; Ammonium sulfate; Cold; Continuous flow; Depolarization; Diffusion chambers; Diffusion plating; Droplets; Flow velocity; Freezing; Haze; Ice; Ice nucleation; Ice nuclei; Illite; Illites; Investigations; Iodides; Kaolinite; Laboratories; Learning algorithms; Learning behaviour; Machine learning; Measurement methods; Nucleation; Nucleus; OTHER INSTRUMENTATION; Parallel plates; Particle counters; Particle spin; Radiation counters; Silver; Silver iodide; Sulfates
• ISSN: 1867-8548; 1867-1381; 1867-8548
• DOI: 10.5194/amt-9-2781-2016

The SPectrometer for Ice Nuclei (SPIN) is a commercially available ice nucleating particle (INP) counter manufactured by Droplet Measurement Technologies in Boulder, CO. The SPIN is a continuous flow diffusion chamber with parallel plate geometry based on the Zurich Ice Nucleation Chamber and the Portable Ice Nucleation Chamber. This study presents a standard description for using the SPIN instrument and also highlights methods to analyze measurements in more advanced ways. It characterizes and describes the behavior of the SPIN chamber, reports data from laboratory measurements, and quantifies uncertainties associated with the measurements. Experiments with ammonium sulfate are used to investigate homogeneous freezing of deliquesced haze droplets and droplet breakthrough. Experiments with kaolinite, NX illite, and silver iodide are used to investigate heterogeneous ice nucleation. SPIN nucleation results are compared to those from the literature. A machine learning approach for analyzing depolarization data from the SPIN optical particle counter is also presented (as an advanced use). Overall, we report that the SPIN is able to reproduce previous INP counter measurements.