Field validation of the droplet aerosol analyser

A new instrument for the study of cloud droplets and its relation to aerosol particles, the droplet aerosol analyser (DAA), was for the first time used in a field campaign. The DAA has the unique feature of measuring the ambient size of cloud droplets or cloud interstitial aerosol particles together with the size of its dry residue. This is obtained with a two-parameter data acquisition technique which results in a three-dimensional data set (ambient size, dry residue size, number concentration). The principle and design of the DAA is briefly described. The DAA was intercompared with differential mobility particle sizers, particulate volume monitors and a forward scattering spectrometer probe with respect to interstitial and cloud droplet dry residue size distribution as well as particle-size-dependent scavenging due to cloud droplet nucleation and for cloud droplet number concentration and size distribution and cloud liquid water concentration. Overall, the DAA showed good agreement with respect to all these six aerosol/cloud properties.