Abstract. The study of aerosols in the troposphere and in the stratosphere is of major importance both for climate and air quality studies. Among the numerous instruments available, optical aerosol particles counters (OPCs) provide the size distribution in diameter range from about 100 nm to a few tens of µm. Most of them are very sensitive to the nature of aerosols, and this can result in significant biases in the retrieved size distribution. We describe here a new versatile optical particle/sizer counter named LOAC (Light Optical Aerosol Counter), which is light and compact enough to perform measurements not only at the surface but under all kinds of balloons in the troposphere and in the stratosphere. LOAC is an original OPC performing observations at two scattering angles. The first one is around 12 • , and is almost insensitive to the refractive index of the particles; the second one is around 60 • and is strongly sensitive to the refractive Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union. J.-B. Renard et al.: Size distribution and nature of atmospheric particlesindex of the particles. By combining measurement at the two angles, it is possible to retrieve the size distribution between 0.2 and 100 µm and to estimate the nature of the dominant particles (droplets, carbonaceous, salts and mineral particles) when the aerosol is relatively homogeneous. This typology is based on calibration charts obtained in the laboratory. The uncertainty for total concentrations measurements is ±20 % when concentrations are higher than 1 particle cm −3 (for a 10 min integration time). For lower concentrations, the uncertainty is up to about ±60 % for concentrations smaller than 10 −2 particle cm −3 . Also, the uncertainties in size calibration are ±0.025 µm for particles smaller than 0.6 µm, 5 % for particles in the 0.7-2 µm range, and 10 % for particles greater than 2 µm. The measurement accuracy of submicronic particles could be reduced in a strongly turbid case when concentration of particles > 3 µm exceeds a few particles cm −3 . Several campaigns of cross-comparison of LOAC with other particle counting instruments and remote sensing photometers have been conducted to validate both the size distribution derived by LOAC and the retrieved particle number density. The typology of the aerosols has been validated in well-defined conditions including urban pollution, desert dust episodes, sea spray, fog, and cloud. Comparison with reference aerosol mass monitoring instruments also shows that the LOAC measurements can be successfully converted to mass concentrations.

An evacuated, temperature-controlled cell has been built for use on the small-angle X-ray scattering instrument D24 at the synchrotron radiation facility LURE. The sample is placed in a quartz capillary sealed in a stainless-steel holder using a vacuum-tight glue. Several O rings provide a vacuum path upstream and downstream from the cell, so that the X-ray beam only meets the capillary walls and the solution under study between the slits and the beam stop, while the sample is maintained under atmospheric pressure. The cell temperature is controlled via a water circulation through a copper sheath in tight contact with the steel holder. The use of this cell results in a marked reduction of the background, as observed in two series of parallel experiments using a conventional cell and this evacuated cell. The decrease ranges from a factor of 2 at s 1 values larger than 0.008 A,-to more than 15 at s --0.00116A -1, where s is the modulus of the scattering vector (s = 2sin 0/A, 20 is the scattering angle and A is the wavelength of the X-rays).

Abstract. In the companion (Part I) paper, we have described and evaluated a new versatile optical particle counter/sizer named LOAC (Light Optical Aerosol Counter), based on scattering measurements at angles of 12 and 60 • . That allows for some typology identification of particles (droplets, carbonaceous, salts, and mineral dust) in addition to sizesegregated counting in a large diameter range from 0.2 µm up to possibly more than 100 µm depending on sampling conditions . Its capabilities overpass those of preceding optical particle counters (OPCs) allowing the characterization of all kind of aerosols from submicronicsized absorbing carbonaceous particles in polluted air to very coarse particles (> 10-20 µm in diameter) in desert dust plumes or fog and clouds. LOAC's light and compact design allows measurements under all kinds of balloons, on-board unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and atPublished by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union. 3674J.-B. Renard et al.: LOAC: a counter/sizer for ground-based and balloon measurements -Part 2 ground level. We illustrate here the first LOAC airborne results obtained from a UAV and a variety of scientific balloons. The UAV was deployed in a peri-urban environment near Bordeaux in France. Balloon operations include (i) tethered balloons deployed in urban environments in Vienna (Austria) and Paris (France), (ii) pressurized balloons drifting in the lower troposphere over the western Mediterranean (during the Chemistry-Aerosol Mediterranean Experiment -ChArMEx campaigns), (iii) meteorological sounding balloons launched in the western Mediterranean region (ChArMEx) and from Aire-sur-l'Adour in south-western France (VOLTAIRE-LOAC campaign). More focus is put on measurements performed in the Mediterranean during (ChArMEx) and especially during African dust transport events to illustrate the original capability of balloon-borne LOAC to monitor in situ coarse mineral dust particles. In particular, LOAC has detected unexpected large particles in desert sand plumes.

Inertial-magnetic measurement units are inexpensive sensors, widely used in electronic systems (smartphones, GPS, micro-UAV, etc). However the precision of these sensors is highly dependent on their calibration. This article proposes a complete solution to calibrate the sensors (accelerometers, gyrometers and magnetometers), the inter-sensor rotations and the dynamic disturbances of the magnetic field due to the immediate environment. Contrary to most of the existing techniques, the proposed method does not necessitate any external equipment, apart from the sensors already included in the system. The calibration can be performed by hand manipulation by the final user. Simulations and experiments show the advantages of the proposed approach.

Abstract. The study of aerosols in the troposphere and in the stratosphere is of major importance both for climate and air quality studies. Among the numerous instruments available, aerosol particles counters provide the size distribution in diameter range from few hundreds of nm to few tens of μm. Most of them are very sensitive to the nature of aerosols, and this can result in significant biases in the retrieved size distribution. We describe here a new versatile optical particle/sizer counter (OPC) named LOAC (Light Optical Aerosol Counter), which is light and compact enough to perform measurements not only at the surface but under all kinds of balloons in the troposphere and in the stratosphere. LOAC is an original OPC performing observations at two scattering angles. The first one is around 12°, and is almost insensitive to the nature of the particles; the second one is around 60° and is strongly sensitive to the refractive index of the particles. By combining measurement at the two angles, it is possible to retrieve accurately the size distribution and to estimate the nature of the dominant particles (droplets, carbonaceous, salts and mineral particles) in several size classes. This topology is based on calibration charts obtained in the laboratory. Several campaigns of cross-comparison of LOAC with other particle counting instruments and remote sensing photometers have been conducted to validate both the size distribution derived by LOAC and the retrieved particle number density. The topology of the aerosols has been validated in well-defined conditions including urban pollution, desert dust episodes, fog, and cloud. Comparison with reference aerosol mass monitoring instruments also shows that the LOAC measurements can be successfully converted to mass concentrations. All these tests indicate that no bias is present in the LOAC measurements and in the corresponding data processing.