ATMS/PHYS 497 Senior Thesis [main page] [assignments].

 


Class of Fall 2022

Students in 2022 class


Senior Thesis Presentations Fall 2022
Students:
Michael Sandink (Atmospheric Science)
Investigation of the PMS5003 Sensing Optics Used for Aerosol Concentration Measurement in the International PurpleAir Air Quality Monitoring Network

Sonoma Danse (Atmopsheric Science)
The Influence of Wildfire Smoke on Aviation Safety in the Northern Sierra Nevada

Celime Garcia (Physics)
Impact of slope aspect on trees in the Lake Tahoe Basin

 

Class of Fall 2021

Students in 2021

 

Sign of our times. Smoke lawsuits. That's one reason PM2.5 monitoring needs to be accurate. Click on image for larger version.

 

Class of 2019

Week 15 May 6th

Congratulations Class of Spring 2019! Awesome!

 

Week 1 22 January

Useful link for acquiring information on your topic. (example)

Look at the syllabus. Prepare your topic, firm up the title and idea. Collect relevant research papers. Prepare for assignment 1.

UV Detector Project: Left, clear sky, right, partly cloudy conditions . Click image for larger version.

 

Tuning Fork Project: Electromechanical model for the tuning fork. Click image for larger version.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summer and Fall Work:

Theory of laser heated aerosol for Jesse's project

 

October 16th
Laser drive for photoacoustic instrument. Click image for larger photo.

Strategy to work with albedo spectra by using shape and comparison with the SNICAR model. Click image for larger version.

October 13th
Travis and experiment to demonstrate Rayleigh scattering. Click image for larger version.


October 5th
Black Rock Desert surface albedo measurements.
Photos during the campaign.
Data from the spectrometer based sun photometer.
Click image for larger version -- everyone in prep mode.

October 9th
Photoacoustic notes: Complex analysis for in phase mic signal. Click images for larger versions.


Basic Theory

Theory for phase offset correction: Rotation of lockin phase.

How to get Babs when there is a constant phase offset, phiOffset

More on the photoacoustic algorithm, and some filter and phase notes.

 

September 22
Rayleigh scattering experiment interpretation. Click on image for larger version.

Voltage regulator set up and issues -- loading effects. Click on image for larger version.

Discussion of circuit used for thermistor on the Perlan project. Click image for larger version.

August 28
Manual for the tiny USB PM sensor.

Other links.

http://www.plantower.com/content/?94.html
https://www.dfrobot.com/wiki/index.php/PM2.5_laser_dust_sensor_SKU:SEN0177
https://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=355922.0
http://aqicn.org/sensor/pms3003/
https://world.taobao.com/item/522866284352.htm?fromSite=main&spm=a312a.7700824.w4004-15069459887.4.7ad9afc7kiwcse

 

August 24
Project updates: presentations
Jayne: Spectral surface albedo on the ground and from UAS.
Chris: Spectral albedo measurements of glaciers in Peru.
Megan: Spectral aerosol optical depth measurements at night using the Great Basin Observatory.
Skylar: Investigation of relationship between surface PM2.5 and PM10 and column aerosol optical depth.
Sarah and Apryl: Use of the Teensy microcontroller and an audio card for photoacoustic instrument operation by lock in detection.

August 22
Surface albedo measurements from UAS with Adam Watts of DRI. Click image for larger version.

August 21
Eclipse measurements from the roof of Leifson Physics. Click image on the right for larger version.


Total, diffuse, and direct beam solar radiation on the 21st of August during the eclipse, from Dr. James Barnard. The morning was cloudless surrounding the time of the eclipse.


August 16th

Algorithm for the photoacoustic instrument. Click on image for larger version.

 

August 15th

Uncertainty discussion for BAM PM10 measurements, AOD, surface albedo, apparent boundary layer height, and boundary layer height.
Click on images for a larger version.


August 11th

Algorithm for computing the Allan deviation for the Teensy audio card, photoacoustic cell application. Click on image for a larger version.
Here's a paper that shows calculation for a photoacoustic instrument.

August 8th

Aerosol optical depth relation to aerosol sources, and aerosol processing by clouds. We will need the Angström coefficient calculated for wavelength pairs
380nm and 870 nm; 440 nm and 870 nm; 440 nm and 675 nm; 870 nm and 1640 nm, with the goal in mind of studying aerosol size and amount, and relationship
to the time of day. We're aiming at making the graph on the lower left, using the equation on the lower right. Click on image for larger version.

August 7th

Boundary layer height papers: Paper 1, Paper 2.
Extended discussion of boundary layer dynamics.
Paper on clear sky vs cloudy sky determination from pyranometer measurements.

 

August 4th and 7th

Teensy audio card sampling properties, and explanation of the observed lock in spectrum. Click on images for larger version. Excel spreadsheet for the plot.
Here's a sketch to test it.


August 3rd

Photoacoustic references.
How to clamp input voltage level to an analog to digital converter range of measurement.

August 2nd

Application note on protecting the analog to digital convertor. (local backup)

July 31st

Teensy audio card schematic and layout. Click image for larger version.

July 20th

Spectrometer transfer function theory. Click on image for larger version.

July 17th

Relationships for PM2.5, PM10, PM, aerosol optical depth (AOD), and planetary boundary layer height. Click on images for larger version.

July 14th

Lockin amplifier basics. Click on image for larger version.

July 3rd

How to calculate absorption optical depth for ozone, water vapor, nitrogen dioxide, and carbon dioxide. Click on image for larger version.


June 27th

Summary of hand held albedo meter road map. Click on image for larger version.

June 5th

Summary of project activity. Click on image for larger version.

Low and high pass RC filters for electronic filtering. Click on image for larger version.

 

May 25th

Photoacoustic instrument and aerosol discussion. Click on image for larger version.

 

Weeks 5 through 8: 21 February through 13 March

Prepare a rough draft of your introductory chapter and turn it in by email (electronic version), as time permits with acquiring your data.
We will update on Friday.

We meet and discuss progress and issues, types of data being acquired, timing of that data acquistion, and issues that are preventing progress.

Week 4: 13 February

Prepare a rough draft of your introductory chapter and turn it in by email (electronic version).

Board from discussion about downwelling IR and satellite remote sensing. Click on it for a larger version.

Week 3: 6 February

Look at the syllabus. Prepare your topic, firm up the title and idea. Collect relevant research papers. Prepare for assignment 1.
We will meet in class on Friday from 1 pm to 3 pm (maximum time).

Week 2: 30 January

Aaron and Zoey presented assignment 1. Michael and Chasity will do so next week. Michael presented the microspectrometer later in the day.

Week 1: 23 January

Look at the syllabus. Prepare your topic, firm up the title and idea. Collect relevant research papers. Prepare for assignment 1.