Collaborative Research: Cosmics Leaving OUtdoor Droplets (CLOUD) Consortium Membership

该项目支持欧洲核子研究中心的云计算联盟继续由伯奇-梅隆大学和加州理工学院组成，并为科罗拉多大学博尔德分校提供新的成员资格。 云（宇宙离开户外液滴）实验设施可能是世界上最复杂的实验解决大气新粒子的形成。 它的建造是为了在高度受控的超净条件下测量新粒子的形成。CLOUD是一个国际会员资助的联盟，支持实验的维护和运行。 成员们从他们的国家机构筹集研究资金参加。实验在CERN每年进行1-2次精心计划的活动，每次持续8-10周。这些活动是在每年两次为期一周的大型联合会会议上规划和评估的，而更有重点的密集数据分析则始终由个人进行，但也在每年根据分析和解释的需要临时安排和主办的几次重点小组会议上进行。通过skype和其他媒体举行的虚拟团队会议正在进行中，除了提供所需的联合会费用外，该项目还将支持云计算实验活动和相关联合会会议和数据研讨会的运输和差旅。与该项目相关的博士和博士后学生将被纳入一个由学生和高级研究人员组成的国际合作网络，这些研究人员是气溶胶科学和大气化学领域最受重视的研究人员之一。他们将在开展国际合作研究方面接受宝贵的培训。云计算实验的主题具有很高的国家和国际利益。气溶胶-云相互作用是理解气候强迫和气候敏感性的最大不确定性来源之一。云实验证实，离子可以稳定成核团簇，并且对于其他弱结合的团簇（如氨硫酸，硫酸有机物和纯有机物），离子可以根据条件将成核速率提高3-100倍。 在本项目期间，计划开展三项活动，即云计算-13、云计算-14和云计算-15。 这些活动将侧重于以下广泛的专题：有机氧化化学在新粒子形成和增长中的作用;城市地区新粒子的形成;海洋大气中新粒子的形成;如果有的话，云滴和冰的形成该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为是值得通过评估使用基金会的知识优点和更广泛的影响审查标准。

This project supports the continued membership in the CLOUD consortium at CERN, by Carnegie-Mellon University and the California Institute of Technology, and provides new membership for the University of Colorado at Boulder. The CLOUD (Cosmics Leaving OUtdoor Droplets) experimental facility is likely the world's most sophisticated experiment addressing atmospheric new-particle formation. It was constructed to measure new particle formation under highly controlled, ultra-clean conditions.CLOUD is an international member-funded consortium supporting the maintenance and operation of the experiment. Members raise research funding from their national agencies to participate. Experiments are conducted at CERN during 1-2 carefully planned campaigns per year, each lasting 8-10 weeks. These campaigns are planned, and data are assessed, during two major week-long consortium meetings each year, while more focused, intensive data analysis is carried out at all times by individuals, but also in several focused team meetings scheduled and hosted on an ad-hoc basis during the course of each year as analysis and interpretation require. Virtual team meetings via skype and other media are ongoing and continuous.In addition to providing the required consortium fee, this project will support shipping and travel to CLOUD experimental campaigns and associated consortium meetings and data workshops. The doctoral and postdoctoral students associated with the project will be integrated into an international collaborative network of students and senior researchers who are among the most highly regarded in aerosol science and atmospheric chemistry. They will receive invaluable training in the conduct of international collaborative research.The subject of the CLOUD experiments is of high national and international interest. Aerosol-cloud interactions are among the largest sources of uncertainty in the understanding of climate forcing and climate sensitivity. CLOUD experiments confirm that ions can stabilize nucleating clusters, and that, for otherwise weakly bound clusters (such as ammonia sulfuric acid, organics with sulfuric acid, and pure organics), ions can enhance nucleation rates by factors of 3-100 depending on conditions. During the period of this project, three campaigns, CLOUD-13, CLOUD-14, and CLOUD-15, are planned. The campaigns will focus on the following broad topics: the role of organic oxidation chemistry in new-particle formation and growth; new-particle formation in urban areas; new-particle formation in the marine atmosphere; and the role, if any, of charge in cloud-droplet formation and ice-crystal nucleation.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.