We describe a new version of the Chicago Water Isotope Spectrometer (ChiWIS), designed for airborne measurements of vapor-phase water isotopologues in the dry upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS) aboard research aircraft. This version of the instrument is a tunable diode laser (TDL), off-axis integrated cavity output spectrometer (OA-ICOS). The instrument was designed to measure the HDO/H2O ratio in the 2017 Asian Summer Monsoon flight aboard the M-55 Geophysica during the StratoClim campaign, and so far has also flown aboard the WB-57F in the 2021 and 2022 ACCLIP campaigns. The spectrometer scans absorption lines of both H2O and HDO near 2.647 μm wavelength in a single current sweep, and has an effective path length of 7.5 km under optimal conditions. The instrument utilizes a novel non-axially-symmetric optical component which increases the signal-to-noise ratio by a factor of 3. Ultra-polished, 4-inch diameter cavity mirrors suppress scattering losses, maximize mirror reflectivity, and yield optical fringing significantly below typical electrical noise levels. In laboratory conditions, the instrument has demonstrated a 5-second measurement precision of 3.6 ppbv and 82 pptv in H2O and HDO, respectively.
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The Chicago Water Isotope Spectrometer (ChiWIS-lab): A tunable diode laser spectrometer for chamber-based measurements of water vapor isotopic evolution during cirrus formation
- Award ID(s):
- 1743753
- PAR ID:
- 10146801
- Publisher / Repository:
- American Institute of Physics
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Review of Scientific Instruments
- Volume:
- 91
- Issue:
- 4
- ISSN:
- 0034-6748
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- Article No. 045120
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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