Articles | Volume 14, issue 9
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6101-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6101-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
16 Sep 2021
Research article |
| 16 Sep 2021
| 16 Sep 2021
Characterizing the performance of a POPS miniaturized optical particle counter when operated on a quadcopter drone
Zixia Liu
College of Engineering Mathematics, and Physical Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, Devon, UK
Martin Osborne
College of Engineering Mathematics, and Physical Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, Devon, UK
Met Office, Fitzroy Road, Exeter, Devon, UK
Karen Anderson
College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter,
Penryn, Cornwall, UK
Jamie D. Shutler
College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter,
Penryn, Cornwall, UK
Andy Wilson
Met Office, Fitzroy Road, Exeter, Devon, UK
Justin Langridge
Met Office, Fitzroy Road, Exeter, Devon, UK
Steve H. L. Yim
Department of Geography and Resource Management, The Chinese
University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Stanley Ho Big Data Decision Analytics Research Centre, The Chinese
University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Institute of Environment, Energy and Sustainability, The Chinese
University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Asian School of the Environment, Nanyang Technological University,
Singapore
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of
Manchester, Manchester, UK
Suresh Babu
Space Physics Laboratory, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Trivandrum
695 022, India
Sreedharan K. Satheesh
Centre for Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Indian Institute of
Science, Bangalore 560 012, India
Paquita Zuidema
Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of
Miami, Miami, FL, USA
Tao Huang
Department of Geography and Resource Management, The Chinese
University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Jack C. H. Cheng
Department of Geography and Resource Management, The Chinese
University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
College of Engineering Mathematics, and Physical Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, Devon, UK
Met Office, Fitzroy Road, Exeter, Devon, UK
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- Aerosol Physicochemical Mixing State and Cloud Nucleation Potential during Tracking Aerosol Convection Interactions Experiment (TRACER) Campaign Z. Lei et al. 10.1021/acs.est.5c03508
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Latest update: 03 Nov 2025
Short summary
This paper first validates the performance of an advanced aerosol observation instrument POPS against a reference instrument and examines any biases introduced by operating it on a quadcopter drone. The results show the POPS performs relatively well on the ground. The impact of the UAV rotors on the POPS is small at low wind speeds, but when operating under higher wind speeds, larger discrepancies occur. It appears that the POPS measures sub-micron aerosol particles more accurately on the UAV.
This paper first validates the performance of an advanced aerosol observation instrument POPS...
