Bieber, P., Seifried, T. M., Gratzl, J., Burkart, J., Kasper-Giebl, A., Schmale III, D. G., & Grothe, H. (2020). Development, Characterization and Testing of a Drone-based Sampling Method for Investigations of Ice-Nucleating Particles. In EGU General Assembly 2020. EGU General Assembly 2020, Vienna, Austria. Copernicus. https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-12099
Terrestrial ecosystems can contribute various particles to the troposphere, some of which are
known for their ice nucleation activity. Most of the land-surface in Europe is covered with forests
and fields, representing potential sources of ice nucleation active bioaerosols in form of pollen
grains, fungal spores and bacterial cells. The presence of biogenic ice-nucleating particles (INPs) in
clouds leads to heterogeneous freezing events and therefore influences the hydrological cycle and
the Earth´s climate. Many studies focus on measurements and characterizations of INPs in clouds
using aircrafts or sample on ground with stationary devices. Less is known about the actual
emission and transport to high tropospheric layers. We focused on the development of an efficient
sampling device that can be attached to small scale drones, such as the DJI Phantom 4 model. The
Drone-based Aerosol Particles Sampling Impinger/Impactor (DAPSI) system was developed to
sample airborne INPs above emission sources. It includes a cascade impactor that collects
particles with size resolution and a self-build impinging system that accumulates INPs in a sterile
solution. Additionally, the system contains an electric sensor for environmental data records
(temperature, relative humidity and air pressure) as well as an optical particle counter to monitor
particular matter concentrations during flight times. This study leads through the building,
characterization and test-campaign of DAPSI. We present a validation test, regarding the sampling
effectivity to sample aerosols (polystyrene latex spheres and INPs) as well as results from the first
field campaign which took place in a rural sampling site in the Austrian Alps. Fluorescence- and
cryo-microscopic assays show auto-fluorescent particles and heterogeneous ice nucleation activity
of DAPSI samples. We highlight the opportunity to use DAPSI with small un(wo)manned aerial
vehicles during field campaigns to sample and identify biogenic INPs in vertical and spatial
resolution above emission sources.