Articles | Volume 19, issue 13
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-19-4601-2026
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-19-4601-2026
Research article
 | 
14 Jul 2026
Research article |  | 14 Jul 2026

Reaching new heights: Profiling Upper altitudes For Ice Nucleation (PUFIN) on the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) tethered balloon systems

Jessie M. Creamean, Darielle Dexheimer, Carson C. Hume, Maria Vazquez, Benjamin T. M. Hess, Casey M. Longbottom, Carlos A. Ruiz, and Adam K. Theisen

Data sets

Ice Nucleation Spectrometer (INS) Instrument Handbook J. Creamean et al. https://doi.org/10.5439/2001041

Model code and software

ARM-Development/TBS-INP-Design: Design and parts list for ARM PUFIN TBSINP sampler (v1.0.0) J. Creamean and Z. Sherman https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21258036

OLAF: v0.3.0-beta S. Grannetia and C. Hume https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17509699

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Short summary
PUFIN (Profiling Upper altitudes For Ice Nucleation) is a lightweight sampler flown on the U.S. Department of Energy’s Atmospheric Radiation Measurement user facility’s tethered balloons to measure ice nucleating particles at multiple altitudes. Deployments in Maryland and Alabama show it can detect low concentrations in under an hour and capture changes with height. All data are publicly available, and future flights will help track seasonal and vertical patterns of these unique particles.
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