For this project, CSL is working with World View Enterprises to make the first particle size distribution measurements onboard a World View Stratollite, a commercial, navigable, long-endurance stratospheric balloon platform. The Portable Optical Particle Spectrometer (POPS) instrument has been demonstrated to be a reliable and sufficiently small, lightweight instrument to enable its operation on a number of high-altitude scientific platforms, including large and small balloons and manned and unmanned aircraft. Measurements from the
POPS Stratollite Mission will help us better understand stratospheric aerosol under background conditions, as well following natural injections of sulfur gases and aerosols from explosive volcanic eruptions and very large fires. POPS flights on the Stratollite will also demonstrate the potential of using new observing platforms to acquire scientific data in the stratosphere for extended periods over large geographic regions.