AIRSHIP MEASUREMENTS OF AEROSOL-SIZE DISTRIBUTIONS, CLOUD DROPLET SPECTRA, AND TRACE GAS CONCENTRATIONS IN THE MARINE BOUNDARY-LAYER

The use of an airship as a platform to conduct atmospheric chemistry, aerosol, and cloud microphysical research is described, and results fr om demonstration flights made off the Oregon coast are presented. The slow speed of the airship makes it an ideal platform to do high-spatia l resolution profiling both vertically and horizontally, and to measur e large aerosol and cloud droplet distributions without the difficulti es caused by high-speed aircraft sampling. A unique set of data obtain ed during the demonstration flights show the effect that processing ma rine boundary layer aerosol through stratus clouds has on the aerosol size distribution. Evidence of new particle formation (nucleation of p articles) was also observed on about half the days on which flights we re made.