MRI: Development of a Multiphase Turbulent Reaction Chamber for Laboratory Studies of Atmospheric Aerosol and Cloud Processes

这项工作将开发一个实验室云室，以评估具有良好特征的湍流(通过瑞利-贝纳德对流产生)对云微物理和气溶胶处理的影响。圆柱形燃烧室的工作体积为3.14m**3，能够模拟对流层相关的各种温度和压力。50至20摄氏度和10**4至10**5帕)。辅助仪器将能够生成气溶胶和云颗粒并对其进行详细描述，测量热力学和湍流特性，并为随后的化学和形态分析采样颗粒。直接感兴趣的专题将包括：云特性的湍流、混合和相关波动；冰过程，包括初级成核和二次冰形成；气溶胶和云化学；以及气溶胶的光学和形态特征。将采用一个数值云模型来模拟和进一步评估在燃烧室内发生的过程。气溶胶/云-颗粒转化以及影响它们的相互作用的化学和湍流过程是该设施的一个主要重点。这项工作的智力价值取决于对过程的更好理解，这些过程对云和降水的形成、它们与气溶胶和化学成分的相互作用以及最终云在全球气候系统中的作用具有强烈的影响。至于更广泛的影响，这个设备齐全的云室设施将是美国实验室环境研究科学基础设施的重要补充，在将模拟在理想的大范围大气温度和压力范围内发生的云与特征良好的湍流相结合方面将特别独特。该试验室将设在新的五大湖研究中心，该中心将为居住在密歇根理工大学的研究人员提供便捷的通道，并在进行必要的初始开发和测试后，为来自美国各地的调查人员提供便利。

This effort will develop a laboratory cloud chamber to assess impacts of well-characterized turbulence (generated via Rayleigh-Benard convection) on cloud microphysics and aerosol processing. The cylindrical chamber will have a working volume of 3.14 m**3 and be capable of simulating a full range of tropospherically relevant temperatures and pressures (viz. 50 to 20 degC and 10**4 to 10**5 Pa). Supporting instrumentation will allow for generation and detailed characterization of aerosol and cloud particles, measurement of thermodynamic and turbulent properties, and sampling of particles for subsequent chemical and morphological analysis. Topics of immediate interest would include: turbulence, mixing and associated fluctuations of cloud properties; ice processes, including primary nucleation and secondary ice formation; aerosol and cloud chemistry; and both optical and morphological characterization of aerosols. A numerical cloud model will be adapted to simulate and further evaluate processes occurring within the chamber. Aerosol/cloud-particle transformations and the interactive chemical and turbulent processes that influence them are a major focus of this facility. The Intellectual Merit of this work hinges on improved understanding of processes having strong implications for their proper representation of formation of clouds and precipitation, their interactions with aerosol and chemical constituents, and ultimately the role of clouds in the global climate system.As to Broader Impacts, this comprehensively equipped cloud chamber facility will represent an important addition to U.S. scientific infrastructure for laboratory-based environmental studies, and will be particularly unique in coupling the ability to simulate clouds occurring in a desirably broad range of atmospheric temperatures and pressures with well-characterized turbulence. The chamber will be housed in the new Great Lakes Research Center, which will provide ready access by investigators residing at Michigan Tech and, after time for required initial development and testing, by investigators from across the U.S.