An ultra-low cost cold stage for the immersion-mode study of atmospheric ice-nucleating particles

SNF Sikora1 , MD Tarn,1,2 GCE Porter,1,2 J-u Shim2 & BJ Murray1

1 School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK

2 School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK

Summary

Cold-plate based cooling systems have been used for the immersion-mode investigation of ice-nucleating particles (INPs), but are typically high-cost, reliant on a ready supply of liquid nitrogen or relatively unportable and thus unsuitable for field-based analyses. We have developed an ultra-low cost cold stage based on a Peltier thermoelectric module, constructed largely from off-the-shelf consumer parts, for the study of ice nucleation, and have validated it using a range of atmospherically relevant INPs