Aerosol particles

The atmosphere contains mostly gases, but it also solid aerosol particles suspended in the air. These aerosol particles have important effects on the climate and air quality. They are emitted by vegetation, oceans, deserts, volcanic eruptions, but also anthropogenic activities (road traffic, industries, etc.).

The Puy de Dôme station is equipped with instruments to measure their concentration in number (between a few hundred and a few thousand particles per cm3 of air) and in mass (a few micrograms per m3 of air), their size (between 1 nanometer and around ten micrometers), their properties of absorption and diffusion of the solar radiation, their chemical composition and their capacity to form ice or liquid droplets (ice condensation nuclei). These measurements are made in the framework of the national observation service CLAP.

A specific instrumentation (Wibs-DMT, Wideband Integrated Bioaerosol Sensor by Droplet Measurement Technologies) was recently acquired for the analysis of bioaerosols (pollens, bacteria, fungi, etc.). In addition to in situ observations at altitude at Puy de Dôme, aerosols are also measured by active (lidar) and passive (photometer) remote sensing at the Cézeaux site.

Contacts : Evelyn Freney/Clémence Rose