Examples of realistic aerosol particles collected in a cascade impactor

In this paper some scanning electron microscope photomicrographs showing examples of a variety of particulate aerosol shapes are presented. Compositions of particles also are presented. These particles represent samples from a number of different sources and locations including: solid propellant rocket motor plumes, active volcano plumes, the lower stratosphere over Sondrestrom, Greenland, and the upper troposphere over northern Texas. The particles were collected from aboard an aircraft with a cascade impactor which classified them according to aerodynamic size into 10 size intervals ranging from submicron to greater than 25 micrometers in diameter. The cascade impactor also served to measure the mass concentration as a function of particle size. The variety of shapes and compositions found among these particles suggest difficulties in obtaining reliable size distribution data from light scattering measurements.