Dr Mike Cubison
Cooperative Institute for Research in the Environmental Sciences
University of Colorado at Boulder

CIRES Building Room 318, Univ of Colorado UCB 216,
Boulder CO 80309, USA.
Office M320, Ekeley Sciences
Tel +1 303 492 1837
Fax +1 303 492 0951
Mike is part of the Jimenez Group

Current Projects

  • HIAPER - the High Altitude Instrumented Platform for Environmental Research
    Read slick corporate jet stuffed full of state-of-the-art atmospheric instruments. The deployment of the ToF-AMS in the small Gulfstream-V cabin is an engineering and certification challenge. Construction is nearly done and I look forward to the test flights!
  • Cloud Condensation Nuclei Closure
    Together with many others, I have been looking at the parameters influencing the formation of clouds in different environments, incorporating a vast amount of data and the cloud activation model of Barbara Ervens and Graham Feingold at NOAA. In a recent presentation at the AAAR we demonstrated the importance of the mixing state on CCN activation in urban areas.
  • Aerosol Concentrator
    Automation of the clever concentration system developed at USC has allowed for continuous switched ambient-concentrated AMS measurements. Another study is upcoming in Berkeley, CA, and a look at the performance of the instrument too.

Field Projects - see also the group page


April 2006

Deployment of the modified aerosol concentrator to Whistler Peak, BC, in tandem with AMS measurements supporting the INTEX-B campaign.

March 2006

Deployment of the mVACES aerosol concentrator to Mexico City as part of the massive MCMA and MILAGRO campaigns.

November 2005

Rigorous shift-taking on the SOAR 2 campaign in Riverside, CA.

July 2005

Deployment of a computer controlled Aerosol Particle Mass Analyser at the SOAR 1 campaign in Riverside, CA.

June 2005

Helping out our friends at NOAA ERL with deployment of a suite of aerosol instruments, including the DMT CCN counter, at the MASE campaign at beautiful Point Reyes, CA.

Previous campaigns with the Atmospheric Physics Group at SEAES, University of Manchester, UK, included.... ICARTT, Chebogue Point, Canada; TORCH, East Anglia, UK; NAMBLEX, Mace Head, Ireland.

Publications

  • Ervens et al. (2007). Prediction of CCN number concentration using Measurements of Aerosol Size Distributions and Composition and Light Scattering Enhancement Due to Humidity. JGR 112, D10S32.
    Modeling the cloud condensation nuclei activation at a background marine site in Nova Scotia, Canada.
  • Sjoegren et al. (2007). Hygroscopic growth and water uptake kinetics of two-phase aerosol particles consisting of ammonium sulfate, adipic and humic acid mixtures. J. Aerosol Sci. 38, 157-171.
    Investigating the residence time required for particles to reach hygroscopic equilibrium.
  • Cubison et al. (2006). The characterisation of pollution aerosol in a changing photochemical environment. ACP 6, 1-15.
    Looking at the transformations of urban aerosol as it is advected downwind and various processes act to transform it into an often-observed soluble background distribution.
  • Gysel et al. (2006). Closure bewteen measured and modelled particle hygroscopic growth during TORCH2 implies ammonium nitrate artefact in the HTDMA measurements. ACP 6, 1-46.
    In order the complete hygroscopic closure between size, composition and growth factor measurements, Martin Gysel had to largely ignore the NH4NO3 component.
  • Heard et al. (2006). The North Atlantic Marine Boundary Layer Experiment (NAMBLEX). Overview of the campaign held at Mace Head, Ireland, in summer 2002. ACP 6, 2241-2272.
    Overview of the work by a host of people during my first field campaign experience way back when.
  • Cubison, Coe and Gysel (2005). A modified hygroscopic tandem DMA and a data retrieval method based on optimal estimation. Aerosol Sci. 36, 846-865.
    Description of the instrument development work that formed the bulk of my Ph.D.
  • Mcfiggans et al. (2005). Simplification of the representation of the organic component of atmospheric particles. Faraday Discuss. 130, 341-362.
    On the same lines as the TORCH work, looking at the transformation of the urban organic emissions, but with a focus on the level of complexity required to fully describe this subset of the aerosol population.
  • McFiggans et al. (2004). Direct evidence for coastal iodine particles from Laminaria macroalgae - linkage to emissions of molecular iodine.
    Demonstrating that the particles observed in nucleation events at the coast can be duplicated using seaweed in the lab.

Personal Interests and Photos
More on the One Year in CO page


Number 1: Cycling

Boulder is one of the capitals of cycling in the US, and for good reason. Lots of nice sunny weather, awesome mountains and plenty of like-minded fools to go on huge rides with.

Number 2: Snowboarding

...or teleskiing, or Nordic skiing.... Colorado has BIG mountains, a lot of powder snow, and I am lucky enough to live right next to it all. 'Nuff said.