Airborne Instrumentation for Aerosol Measurements

Abstract

The airborne, satellite, and balloon‐borne instrumentation is a powerful tool for the measurement of microphysical properties and the chemical composition of aerosol and cloud particles. Such instruments can be subdivided into two broad categories: remote sensing instrumentation and in situ instrumentation. In the first category, there are dynamic instrumentation like cloud RADARs (radio detection and ranging), LIDARs (light detection and ranging), and backscattersondes. In contrast, in the second category, there are passive instruments like multispectral and hyperspectral instruments for zenith measurements or limb/occultation detections. Both categories can determine the microphysical properties of the aerosols while the second category can, although only with complex a priori assumptions, also determine their chemical composition. This article is an updated discussion on different types of such airborne aerosol instruments, considering their detection limits and ranges, reliability, and applications. The paper also briefly describes the different platforms available for airborne aerosol/satellite instrumentation along with different payload configurations.