NOAA SP2 microphysical information. 
FIREX-AQ 
PI: J. P. Schwarz, joshua.p.schwarz@noaa.gov

Let me know if you have questions or concerns!

These files are delimited text with information about individual rBC-containing particles detected with the NOAA single particle soot photometer.  However, I have limited it to a sub-range of rBC mass content, and only provide it for cases where particle loadings in the Sp2 were load enough that signal contamination was not an issue. Removed potentially contaminated data depends both on  dilution and plume concentration.

Each file has four columns of data: 

“selected_bc_times” = the time in seconds from midnight of the flight day. These times are for the 0.2 s buffer that contained the data for a given particle, hence many particles may have the same time. 

“selected_bc_mass” - I have only provided results for particles with rBC mass content in the range 3-5 fg. This is a common range we use, as we consistently had >90% success in firing for total particle optical size in this range, and it maximizes particle statistics. This value in fg. 

“selected_cthk” - this is the coating thickness in nm assuming: 1) core index of refraction of (2.26,1.26). Coating index of (1.45, 0), A concentric coated sphere… and using Mie theory to convert the measured rBC mass and total particle size to this value. Negative values as per Martin Gysel: when less scattered light is observed from an rBC fraction, the negative value is the thickness that would need to be removed from this component to generate the theoretical total particle scattering cross section that was measured. NOTE: coating thicknesses above 800 nm are artifacts, and should not be used!

“Selected_bc_state” - this uses a different algorithm that looks for evidence that the rBC was internally mixed with other materials. 1 is “ yup!”, 0 is “no evidence for additional material”. 


Hope this helps!
Shuka