Articles | Volume 18, issue 19
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-5103-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-5103-2025
Research article
 | 
07 Oct 2025
Research article |  | 07 Oct 2025

CARIBIC-AMS: a fully automated aerosol mass spectrometer for operation on routine passenger flights (IAGOS-CARIBIC) – instrument description and first flight application

Johannes Schneider, Christiane Schulz, Florian Rubach, Anna Ludwig, Jonas Wilsch, Philipp Joppe, Christian Gurk, Sergej Molleker, Laurent Poulain, Florian Obersteiner, Torsten Gehrlein, Harald Bönisch, Andreas Zahn, Peter Hoor, Nicolas Emig, Heiko Bozem, Stephan Borrmann, and Markus Hermann

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Cited articles

Andersson, S. M., Martinsson, B. G., Friberg, J., Brenninkmeijer, C. A. M., Rauthe-Schöch, A., Hermann, M., van Velthoven, P. F. J., and Zahn, A.: Composition and evolution of volcanic aerosol from eruptions of Kasatochi, Sarychev and Eyjafjallajökull in 2008–2010 based on CARIBIC observations, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 1781–1796, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-1781-2013, 2013. 
Andersson, S. M., Martinsson, B. G., Vernier, J.-P., Friberg, J., Brenninkmeijer, C. A. M., Hermann, M., Velthoven, P. F. J. van, and Zahn, A.: Significant radiative impact of volcanic aerosol in the lowermost stratosphere, Nat. Commun., 6, 7692, https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms8692, 2015. 
Andreae, M. O. and Rosenfeld, D.: Aerosol-cloud-precipitation interactions. Part 1. The nature and sources of cloud-active aerosols, Earth-Sci. Rev., 89, 13–41, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2008.03.001, 2008. 
Appel, O., Köllner, F., Dragoneas, A., Hünig, A., Molleker, S., Schlager, H., Mahnke, C., Weigel, R., Port, M., Schulz, C., Drewnick, F., Vogel, B., Stroh, F., and Borrmann, S.: Chemical analysis of the Asian tropopause aerosol layer (ATAL) with emphasis on secondary aerosol particles using aircraft-based in situ aerosol mass spectrometry, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 13607–13630, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-13607-2022, 2022. 
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An instrumented container laboratory is operated on regular commercial passenger flights to obtain a long-term representative dataset on the composition of the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. Here we report on the development of a fully automated aerosol mass spectrometer for this project. We present technical specifications, necessary modifications for the automation, instrument calibration and comparisons, detection limits, and the first in-flight data.
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