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

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.