ZEBIS/CBIS - air sampler for isotopes aboard the Zeppelin NT
Overview
As habitat of man, fauna and flora the atmospheric or Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL) plays a dominant role. In this chemically most active and most complex atmospheric region the most natural and anthropogenic emissions take place. By air (mass) exchange the PBL has an important impact on the chemical composition of the free troposphere and the overlying stratosphere.
To understand that deciding role of natural and anthropogenic emissions on air quality, climate and ecosystems, transport and formation processes in the PBL have to be known. The investigation of the complex interactions of gases and aerosols requires a multiplicity of scientific intruments for the simultaneous measurement of free radicals, trace gases, aerosol sizes and aerosol composition, solar irradiation and meteorological parameters.
For this purpose our working group Atmospheric Physics has developed the air sampler ZEBIS (Zeppelin based isotope sampler) which was deployed for the first time in the frame of the COPS/TRACKS field campaign in July 2007.
The ZEBIS experiment was modified in June 2010 for installation in a smaller rack (F20 rack) to integrate it into the VERDRILLT measurement campaign on the CASA 212 AR (based in Madrid, Spain) in August 2010. The conversion mainly required slight modifications of the mechanical components. Because of the different racks, the accompanying modifications and the different flight platform, the name of the experiment changed to CBIS (CASA based isotope sampler).
