Unmanned Aircraft System-Based Aerosol Concentration, Size, and Composition Measurements
Aerosol plumes with high mass concentrations, such as wildfire smoke, dust storms, or volcanic ash, can have significant adverse effects on human health and aircraft safety. Satellites can locate these plumes if the aerosol concentrations are high while models can predict where the plumes will propagate in the future. However, the thresholds at which the aerosols are visible in a satellite image and how effective the models are at predicting an aerosol concentration at a specific point in time and space are not known. Measurements of aerosol concentration, size, and composition under these high concentration conditions are needed to establish the thresholds and validate the models. Because these high aerosol conditions are often contained in elevated plumes, aircraft sampling is the only way to collect this information. However, these plumes content or concentrations are often too hazardous for manned aircraft, so unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) provide an ideal way to get the needed in situ information. Scientists and engineers from the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) have developed a small UAS-based aerosol impactor for use in high concentration aerosol plumes. The sampler can collect aerosols in up to eight size fractions for ex post facto analyses, such as beta-gauge for mass concentration, synchrotron x-ray fluorescence for elemental composition, and wavelength-specific florescence for bioaerosol content. The UAF UAS this system was designed to operate upon has an endurance of up to 20 hours and a flight ceiling of over 6 km allowing the aircraft to map the plume vertically and horizontally. The aircraft also can follow a plume and monitor the evolution of the plume’s aerosol during transport away from the source.
Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Aerosol Impactor Wildfire Smoke Volcanic Ash
Catherine F Cahill Gregory W. Walker
Geophysical Institute,University of Alaska Fairbanks,903 Koyukuk Drive,Fairbanks,AK 99775,United States
国际会议
西安
英文
451-457
2011-08-17（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）