ACPD Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions ACPD 1680-7375 Copernicus GmbH Göttingen, Germany 10.5194/acpd-10-19277-2010 Manchester Ice Nucleus Counter (MINC) measurements from the 2007 International workshop on Comparing Ice nucleation Measuring Systems (ICIS-2007) Jones H. M. 1 Flynn M. J. 1 DeMott P. J. 2 Möhler O. 3 Centre for Atmospheric Science, SEAES, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK Department of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA Institute for Meteorology and Climate Research, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany 16 08 2010 10 8 19277 19307 This is an open-access article ditributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. This article is available from http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/10/19277/2010/acpd-10-19277-2010.html The full text article is available as a PDF file from http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/10/19277/2010/acpd-10-19277-2010.pdf

An ice nucleus counter was developed and constructed to enable investigation of potential ice nucleating materials. The Manchester Ice Nucleus Chamber (MINC) is a concentric-cylinder continuous flow diffusion chamber (CFDC). A full explanation of the MINC instrument is given here, along with first results and a comparison to an established instrument of similar design (Colorado State University CFDC) during sampling of common ice nucleating aerosols at the 2007 International workshop on Comparing Ice nucleation Measuring Systems (ICIS-2007). Both instruments detected the onset of ice nucleation under similar conditions of temperature and supersaturation for several different types of ice nuclei. Comparisons of the ratio of ice nuclei to total aerosol concentrations as a function of relative humidity (RH) showed agreement within one order of magnitude. Possible reasons for differences between the two instruments relating to differences in their design are discussed, along with suggestions to future improvements to the current design.

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