ACTRIS Marketplace

USRL focuses on cost-effective UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) atmospheric applications (vertical profiling, 3D mapping, plume tracking) with miniaturized and lightweight atmospheric sensors fulfilling ACTRIS QA/QC and SOPs (e.g. Aerosol Number Size Concentration, Black Carbon Concentration). It comprises laboratories (150m²) with weather chamber for sensor qualification, specialised mechanical/electronic workshops, as well as a private airfield and permanent airspace (with max ceiling of 3km altitude) located nearby the Cyprus Atmospheric Observatory (ACTRIS National Facility candidate, https://cao.cyi.ac.cy/). USRL is operated by a team of 13 staff of experienced engineers (electronic, software, system, communication, mechanic /material), professional pilots (flying commercial airliners), and experienced researchers in atmospheric sciences. USRL includes a large fleet of customized UAVs (fixed and rotary wings) with different payload capacity (up to 10kg) and miniature air sensors.

Services currently offered by the facility: USRL provides 1) research support in performing intensive field campaigns (profiling, 3D mapping) of UAV-sensor systems, 2) technical support through customized integration of lightweight sensors into UAVs (multi-copter, fixed wing), 3) innovation support through the optimization of lightweight instrumentation for their specific use onboard UAVs, 4) quality UAV training of new users (pilots and scientists). 

USRL has been successfully used in the past for in-situ validation of LIDAR retrieval algorithms (Mamali et al., 2018; Marinou et al., 2019), Ice Nuclei measurements in the cloud region (Schrod et al., 2017), on-flight validation of lightweight absorption sensors (Pikridas et al., 2019), or for the characterisation (weather chamber) of miniaturized aerosol sensors (Bezantakos et al., 2018). USRL was candidate (as TNA provider) for the 3rd TNA call of ENVRI+, and has been successfully used many large international field campaigns (EU-FP7 BACCHUS in Cyprus; H2020-ACTRIS2 in Greece and Finland; AESA-ASKOS in Cape Verde) and for the provision of services to public/private collaborators (e.g. NOA, Greece; CEA, France). Potential new users: ISARRA Community (International Society for Atmospheric Research using Remotely piloted Aircraft; http://www.isarra.org/); >250 members, EU Research Infrastructure (ICOS, EUFAR) partners from the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East region, governmental Units for Environmental monitoring, Security and civil protection. Support/training for SMEs developing UAV-sensor technology in compliance with EU directives (i.e. UAV-based stack emissions), for instrument testing and optimization, and training for UAV flight operation.

Novel remote access capabilities added: integration, testing and flights of new atmospheric sensors in USRL drones, performance of research (field) campaigns and UAV-sensor optimization with remote guidance by the end user.  

Comparison of instruments measuring LWC with a fixed European ACTRIS reference instrument, short report and certificate

TIME CONSTRAINTS: Yearly

SERVICE STATUS: In implementation, starting in 2023/24

Support in the collection of precipitation (snow, ice, rain), filter or other samples in the area of Mt. Hoher Sonnblick for scientific analyses, also event-based sampling

Planning, installation, commissioning and support of measuring instruments, which should measure at the Sonnblick Observatory. Connection to inlet, indoor or outdoor operation, documentation and feedback with instrument owner.

The Sonnblick Observatory has a cable car that covers 1,500 meters in altitude between the valley and the mountain. The cable car can be used for measuring profiles.

TIME CONSTRAINTS: No operation during thunderstorms

Data analysis and preparation of SBO data on specific issues, as well as graphical processing and reporting

TIME CONSTRAINTS: Depending on free resources and available lead time

Identification of possible source regions for air masses arriving at observatory based on atmospheric transport modelling based on meteorological forecast or analysis data from ECMWF

TIME CONSTRAINTS: Upon request depending on requirements (e.g. time period)

Identification of height-range above valley floor influenced by boundary layer air/free troposphere.

TIME CONSTRAINTS: Upon request depending on requirements (e.g. time period)

Conduction of wind Lidar measurements, data processing

TIME CONSTRAINTS: Depending on the availability of instrumentation

Training on how to perform  experiments in humid turbulent flows by experienced scientists as well as hands-on training on high-end and state-of-the-art instrumentation for characterizing turbulent flows, as well as thermodynamic and aerosol particle and droplet microphysical properties.

-        Provision of data from simulation chamber experiments on study of atmospheric behaviour of biogenic and anthropogenic VOCs and semiVOCs, aerosols, product formation, etc. under nearly real conditions.
-        Access to a broad variety of instruments, both stablished and state-of-the art, including PTR-ToF-MS, CI-APi-ToFMS, etc.
-        Validation of photochemical models.
-        Support for planning and evaluation of data experiments.

TIME CONSTRAINTS: None. Coordination with other activities of the facility is needed. 

Testing / intercomparisons of new instruments (inorganic and organic, gas-phase and particulate pollutants)

TIME CONSTRAINTS: None in general. Coordination and planning in advance needed for the transportation of the facility.

It is a mobile facility.

Sources tested in the past include diesel and gasoline engines, wood stoves, pellet stoves, barbecues, etc. Both the primary emissions (after dilution) and their evolution during daytime and nighttime reactions are quantified. The user can supply the source to be studied.

TIME CONSTRAINTS: None in general. Coordination and planning in advance needed for the transportation of the facility.

It is a mobile facility.

Investigations of the evolution of ambient air in different environments. Potential for use of two chambers with changes of the conditions in one of the two with the addition of a pollutant or an oxidant.

TIME CONSTRAINTS: None in general. Coordination and planning in advance needed for the transportation of the facility.

It is a mobile facility.

The service consists of:
- Provision of data from simulation chamber experiments,
- possibility to perform 6hr experiments in the simulation chamber, 
- technical service to use own instruments,
- training for planning, evaluation and interpretation of experiments. 
- Hands-on training sessions with state of the art instrumentation connected to PACS-C2 
- Training on how to perform chamber experiments by experienced scientists.

PSI has a full suite of state of the art instrumentation. Depending on the objectives of the campaign, the chambers can be equipped with the following instruments for gas phase characterization: a proton-transfer reaction time of flight mass spectrometer (PTR-TOF-MS), a chemical ionization atmospheric pressure interface time of flight MS (CI-APi-TOF), as well as the standard NOx and ozone monitors; for NO there is also a high sensitivity instrument (detection limit 5 ppt) available, important for experiments a low NOx conditions. For the characterization of the particle phase the following instrumentation is available: condensation particle counters with different lower cut-off sizes (3 and 10 nm), a particle size magnifier (PSM for even smaller particles, scanning mobility particle sizers (SMPS) for the size distribution (two different size ranges available with a nano and a standard SMPS), a high resolution time of flight aerosol mass spectrometer (TOF-AMS), extractive electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometer (EESI-ToF), an instrument for on-line determination or reactive oxygen species (ROS) and peroxides. For black carbon measurements, a single particle soot photometer (SP2) and an aethalometer are available. 

PACS-C2 also focuses on studies on primary emissions and has many sources of primary emissions available (e.g residential wood burning, coal combustion, open burning emissions, vehicular idle emissions).