the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Cost Effective Off-Grid Automatic Precipitation Samplers for Pollutant and Biogeochemical Atmospheric Deposition
Abstract. An important transport process for particles and gases from the atmosphere to aquatic and terrestrial environments is through dry and wet deposition. An open-source, modular, off-grid, and affordable instrument that can automatically collect wet deposition samples allows for more extensive deployment of deposition samplers in fieldwork and would enable more comprehensive monitoring of remote locations. Precipitation events selectively sampled using a conductivity sensor powered by a battery-based supply are central to off-grid capabilities. The prevalence of conductive precipitation, initially containing high solute levels and progressing through trace level concentrations to ultrapure water in full atmospheric washout, depends on the sampling location but is ubiquitous. This property is exploited here to trigger an electric motor via limit switches to open and close a lid resting over a funnel opening. The motors are operated via a custom-built and modular digital logic control board, which have low energy demands. All components, their design and rationale, and assembly are provided for community use. The modularity of the control board allows operation of up to six independent wet deposition units, such that replicate measurements (e.g., canopy throughfall) or different collection materials for various targeted pollutants can be implemented as necessary.
We demonstrate that these platforms are capable of continuous operation off-grid for integrated monthly and bimonthly collections performed across the Newfoundland and Labrador Boreal Ecosystem Latitudinal Transect (47° to 53° N) during the growing seasons of 2015 and 2016. System performance was assessed through measured power consumption from 115 volts of alternating current (VAC; grid power) or 12 volts of direct current from battery supplies during operation under both standby (40 or 230 mA, respectively) and in-use (78 or 300 mA, respectively) conditions. In the field, one set of triplicate samplers was deployed in the open to collect incident precipitation (open fall) while another set was deployed under the experimental forest canopy (throughfall). The proof-of-concept systems were validated with basic measurements of rainwater chemistry including: i) pH ranging from 4.14 to 5.71 in incident open fall rainwater; ii) conductivity ranging from 21 to 166 uS/cm; and iii) dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations in open fall and canopy throughfall of 16 ± 10 mg/L and 22 ± 12 mg/L, respectively; with incident fluxes spanning 600 to 4200 mg C m-2 a-1 across the transect. Ultimately, this demonstrates that the customized precipitation sampling design of this new platform enables more universal accessibility of deposition samples to the atmospheric observation community – for example, those who have made community calls for targeting biogeochemical budgets and/or contaminants of emerging concern in sensitive and remote regions.
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RC1: 'Comment on amt-2023-231', Anonymous Referee #1, 13 Dec 2023
The comment was uploaded in the form of a supplement: https://amt.copernicus.org/preprints/amt-2023-231/amt-2023-231-RC1-supplement.pdf
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AC1: 'Reply on EC1', Trevor VandenBoer, 21 Mar 2024
Please see our detailed response to the combined comments of the Editor and both Reviewers in the attached documentation. Following our detailed responses, we also provide a copy of the manuscript and supporting information with the implemented changes tracked, for rapid cross-referencing. We will separately upload a clean version of the revised manuscript, as per the journal guidelines, in order to complete peer-review.
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AC1: 'Reply on EC1', Trevor VandenBoer, 21 Mar 2024
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RC2: 'Comment on amt-2023-231', Anonymous Referee #2, 21 Dec 2023
The comment was uploaded in the form of a supplement: https://amt.copernicus.org/preprints/amt-2023-231/amt-2023-231-RC2-supplement.pdf
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AC1: 'Reply on EC1', Trevor VandenBoer, 21 Mar 2024
Please see our detailed response to the combined comments of the Editor and both Reviewers in the attached documentation. Following our detailed responses, we also provide a copy of the manuscript and supporting information with the implemented changes tracked, for rapid cross-referencing. We will separately upload a clean version of the revised manuscript, as per the journal guidelines, in order to complete peer-review.
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AC1: 'Reply on EC1', Trevor VandenBoer, 21 Mar 2024
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EC1: 'Handling editor's comments on amt-2023-231', Mingjin Tang, 25 Dec 2023
Dear colleagues,
This manuscript has been reviewed by two referees. They believe that the instrument you developed is of great interest and that the work is well conducted. Neverthless, they both feel that the current manuscript contained a lot of redundant materials and should be substantially shortened. I agree with them very much; in addition, the structure of this manuscript should be further improved, as also pointed out by the two referees.
As a result, in addition to the revised manuscript and point-to-point reply, could you please also provide a summary of major changes you make in the revision (in order to make it easier for the referees and also the handling editor)? Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
Mingjin Tang
AMT associate editor
Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2023-231-EC1 -
AC1: 'Reply on EC1', Trevor VandenBoer, 21 Mar 2024
Please see our detailed response to the combined comments of the Editor and both Reviewers in the attached documentation. Following our detailed responses, we also provide a copy of the manuscript and supporting information with the implemented changes tracked, for rapid cross-referencing. We will separately upload a clean version of the revised manuscript, as per the journal guidelines, in order to complete peer-review.
-
AC1: 'Reply on EC1', Trevor VandenBoer, 21 Mar 2024
Status: closed
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RC1: 'Comment on amt-2023-231', Anonymous Referee #1, 13 Dec 2023
The comment was uploaded in the form of a supplement: https://amt.copernicus.org/preprints/amt-2023-231/amt-2023-231-RC1-supplement.pdf
-
AC1: 'Reply on EC1', Trevor VandenBoer, 21 Mar 2024
Please see our detailed response to the combined comments of the Editor and both Reviewers in the attached documentation. Following our detailed responses, we also provide a copy of the manuscript and supporting information with the implemented changes tracked, for rapid cross-referencing. We will separately upload a clean version of the revised manuscript, as per the journal guidelines, in order to complete peer-review.
-
AC1: 'Reply on EC1', Trevor VandenBoer, 21 Mar 2024
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RC2: 'Comment on amt-2023-231', Anonymous Referee #2, 21 Dec 2023
The comment was uploaded in the form of a supplement: https://amt.copernicus.org/preprints/amt-2023-231/amt-2023-231-RC2-supplement.pdf
-
AC1: 'Reply on EC1', Trevor VandenBoer, 21 Mar 2024
Please see our detailed response to the combined comments of the Editor and both Reviewers in the attached documentation. Following our detailed responses, we also provide a copy of the manuscript and supporting information with the implemented changes tracked, for rapid cross-referencing. We will separately upload a clean version of the revised manuscript, as per the journal guidelines, in order to complete peer-review.
-
AC1: 'Reply on EC1', Trevor VandenBoer, 21 Mar 2024
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EC1: 'Handling editor's comments on amt-2023-231', Mingjin Tang, 25 Dec 2023
Dear colleagues,
This manuscript has been reviewed by two referees. They believe that the instrument you developed is of great interest and that the work is well conducted. Neverthless, they both feel that the current manuscript contained a lot of redundant materials and should be substantially shortened. I agree with them very much; in addition, the structure of this manuscript should be further improved, as also pointed out by the two referees.
As a result, in addition to the revised manuscript and point-to-point reply, could you please also provide a summary of major changes you make in the revision (in order to make it easier for the referees and also the handling editor)? Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
Mingjin Tang
AMT associate editor
Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2023-231-EC1 -
AC1: 'Reply on EC1', Trevor VandenBoer, 21 Mar 2024
Please see our detailed response to the combined comments of the Editor and both Reviewers in the attached documentation. Following our detailed responses, we also provide a copy of the manuscript and supporting information with the implemented changes tracked, for rapid cross-referencing. We will separately upload a clean version of the revised manuscript, as per the journal guidelines, in order to complete peer-review.
-
AC1: 'Reply on EC1', Trevor VandenBoer, 21 Mar 2024
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