The Universal Cloud and Aerosol Sounding System (UCASS): a low-cost miniature optical particle counter for use  in dropsonde or balloon-borne sounding systems

Smith, Helen R.; Ulanowski, Zbigniew; Kaye, Paul H.; Hirst, Edwin; Stanley, Warren; Kaye, Richard; Wieser, Andreas; Stopford, Chris; Kezoudi, Maria; Girdwood, Joseph; Greenaway, Richard; Mackenzie, Robert

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-6579-2019

Articles | Volume 12, issue 12

https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-6579-2019

© Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-6579-2019

© Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 12, issue 12

Research article

|

13 Dec 2019

Research article |

| 13 Dec 2019

The Universal Cloud and Aerosol Sounding System (UCASS): a low-cost miniature optical particle counter for use in dropsonde or balloon-borne sounding systems

Helen R. Smith, Zbigniew Ulanowski, Paul H. Kaye, Edwin Hirst, Warren Stanley, Richard Kaye, Andreas Wieser, Chris Stopford, Maria Kezoudi, Joseph Girdwood, Richard Greenaway, and Robert Mackenzie

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Final revised paper (published on 13 Dec 2019)
Preprint (discussion started on 11 Mar 2019)

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment

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- Supplement

RC1: 'Review', Masatomo Fujiwara, 31 Mar 2019
- AC1: 'response to reviewer #1', Helen Smith, 02 Jun 2019
RC2: 'UCASS review', Anonymous Referee #2, 03 Apr 2019
- AC2: 'response to reviewer #2', Helen Smith, 02 Jun 2019
RC3: 'The Universal Cloud and Aerosol Sounding System', James Dorsey, 12 Apr 2019
- AC3: 'response to reviewer #3', Helen Smith, 02 Jun 2019

Peer-review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision

AR by Helen Smith on behalf of the Authors (17 Aug 2019) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Publish subject to minor revisions (review by editor) (16 Sep 2019) by Troy Thornberry

AR by Helen Smith on behalf of the Authors (25 Sep 2019) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Publish as is (12 Oct 2019) by Troy Thornberry

AR by Zbigniew Ulanowski on behalf of the Authors (21 Oct 2019)

Short summary

The Universal Cloud and Aerosol Sounding System (UCASS) is a low-cost miniature optical particle counter (OPC) capable of sizing particles in the size range 0.4–40 μm. The open-geometry design makes the instrument suitable for deployment on balloon-borne sounding systems, dropsonde systems or as part of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Laboratory and field experiments show good agreement with reference instruments in a range of cloudy and dusty environments.