Polarized Imaging Nephelometer for in situ airborne measurements of aerosol light scattering

Global satellite remote sensing of aerosols requires in situ measurements to enable the calibration and validation of algorithms. In order to improve our understanding of light scattering by aerosol particles, and to enable routine in situ airborne measurements of aerosol light scattering, we have developed an instrument, called the Polarized Imaging Nephelometer (PI-Neph). We designed and built the PI-Neph at the Laboratory for Aerosols, Clouds and Optics (LACO) of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). This portable instrument directly measures the ambient scattering coefficient and phase matrix elements of aerosols, in the field or onboard an aircraft. The measured phase matrix elements are the P-11, phase function, and P-12. Lasers illuminate the sampled ambient air and aerosol, and a wide field of view camera detects scattered light in a scattering angle range of 3 degrees to 176 degrees. The PI-Neph measures an ensemble of particles, supplying the relevant quantity for satellite remote sensing, as opposed to particle-by-particle measurements that have other applications. Comparisons with remote sensing measurements will have to consider aircraft inlet effects. The PI-Neph first measured at a laser wavelength of 532nm, and was first deployed successfully in 2011 aboard the B200 aircraft of NASA Langley during the Development and Evaluation of satellite ValidatiOn Tools by Experimenters (DEVOTE) project. In 2013, we upgraded the PI-Neph to measure at 473nm, 532nm, and 671nm nearly simultaneously. LACO has deployed the PI-Neph on a number of airborne field campaigns aboard three different NASA aircraft. This paper describes the PI-Neph measurement approach and validation by comparing measurements of artificial spherical aerosols with Mie theory. We provide estimates of calibration uncertainties, which show agreement with the small residuals between measurements of P-11 and -P-12/P-11 and Mie theory. We demonstrate the capability of the PI-Neph to measure ambient aerosol with two data sets from the Deep Convective Clouds and Chemistry (DC3) field campaign, from flights over Colorado in June 2012. (C) 2014 Optical Society of America