Comparison of four scanning mobility particle sizers at the Fresno Supersite

Abstract

Size distributions of ambient aerosols at the Fresno Supersite were measured with four commercially available scanning mobility particle sizers (SMPS). TSI nano, TSI standard, Grimm, and MSP instruments were collocated at the Fresno Supersite and particle size distributions were measured continuously from August 18 through September 18, 2005. For particles with diameters between 10 and 200 nm, differences among hourly-average ambient particle concentrations ranged from 0% between the TSI nano and Grimm in the 30-50 nm size range to 39% between the Grimm and MSP in the 10-30 nm size range. MSP concentrations were 10-33% lower than those measured with the TSI standard for particles smaller than 200 nm. The TSI nano and TSI standard agreed to within 5% in their overlapping size range (10-84 nm). The TSI nano and Grimm agreed to within 40% for 5-10 nm particles. ? 2011 Chinese Society of Particuology and Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.