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。圆柱形室的工作容积为3.14 m**3，能够模拟全范围的对流层相关温度和压力（即50至20摄氏度和10**4至10**5 Pa）。配套仪器将允许产生和详细表征气溶胶和云颗粒，测量热力学和湍流特性，以及为随后的化学和形态分析采样颗粒。直接感兴趣的主题包括：湍流、混合和云性质的相关波动；冰的过程，包括初级成核和次级冰的形成；气溶胶和云化学；以及气溶胶的光学和形态特征。将采用数值云模型来模拟和进一步评价在腔室内发生的过程。气溶胶/云粒子转化以及影响它们的相互作用化学和湍流过程是该设施的主要重点。这项工作的智力价值在于提高对过程的理解，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云在全球气候系统中的最终作用具有强烈的影响。至于更广泛的影响，这个全面装备的云室设施将代表美国科学基础设施的重要补充，用于实验室环境研究，并且在模拟在理想的广泛的大气温度和压力范围内发生的云与特征良好的湍流的能力方面将是特别独特的。该室将被安置在新的大湖研究中心，该中心将为居住在密歇根理工大学的调查人员提供方便，并在必要的初步开发和测试后，由来自美国各地的调查人员提供方便

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.