Alpha Jet
Alpha Jet

The Picarro gas concentration analyzer is an in situ airborne or ground-based sensor manufactured by Picarro, Inc. It uses Wavelength-Scanned-Cavity Ring Spectroscopy (WS-CRDS) to measure trace gases such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, methane, and water vapor. For carbon dioxide measurements, the laser within Picarro operates at 1603 nm wavelength and 1651 nm wavelength for methane and water vapor measurements. Picarro has a typical sampling time of 2.5 seconds. Depending on the model, Picarro can also provide measurements of carbon isotopes for gas concentrations.

The Alpha Jet Atmospheric eXperiment (AJAX) is an in situ airborne instrument suite deployed on the Alpha Jet research aircraft. It consists of an ozone (O3) monitor, a Picarro greenhouse gas analyzer, a COmpact Formaldehyde FluroescencE Experiment (COFFEE) instrument, and a Meteorological Measurement System (MMS). The O3 monitor is an analyzer manufactured by 2B Technologies that measures O3 at the 185 nm wavelength, in the 0-250 ppm measurement range, and at a typical sampling rate of 0.5 Hz. The Picarro analyzer uses cavity-ring down spectrometry (CRDS) to measure carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and water vapor mixing ratio at every 0.3 Hz. It operates at 1603 nm for CO2 measurements and 1651 nm for CH4 and water vapor measurements. COFFEE measures formaldehyde (HCHO) at 355 nm and has a sampling rate of 1 Hz. MMS provides measurements of the ambient atmospheric temperature, pressure, and the 3-dimensional winds at a rate of 1 Hz.