Cloud Condensation Nuclei (CCN) concentrations measured in the Swiss container during MOSAiC 2019/2020

This dataset contains CCN concentrations at five supersaturation levels, averaged to 1 min time resolution, measured during the year-long Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) expedition from October 2019 to September 2020. The measurements were performed in the Swiss container on the D-deck of Research Vessel Polarstern, using the model CCN-100 from Droplet Measurement Technologies (DMT, Boulder, USA). Detailed description of the measurement principle can be found in e.g. Roberts & Nenes (2005). The instrument was located behind an automated valve, which switched hourly between a total and an interstitial air inlet, with upper cutoff sizes of 40 and 1 µm respectively (Heutte et al., 2023; Beck et al., 2022; Dada et al., 2022). The measurements were performed in 1-h cycles, with a 0.5 L/min sample flow and a 2 L/min make up flow, where the supersaturations 0.15, 0.2, 0.3, 0.5 and 1.0 % were measured. The supersaturation of 0.15 % is measured for 20 min, as it takes longer to equilibrate, and the remaining supersaturations were measured for 10 min each. The instrument was calibrated in July 2019 before the campaign, and in March and April 2020 during the campaign. Based on the inter-variability of the calculated supersaturation levels during these calibrations, we can expect values ranging from 0.15-0.20, 0.20-0.25, 0.29-0.33, 0.43-0.5, 0.78-1.0 % for the nominal supersaturations of 0.15, 0.2, 0.3, 0.5 and 1.0 %, respectively. The counting error for the CCNC is associated with the error in the optical counting of particles and is about 10 %. Data were removed during the cooling cycle (i.e., the time when the measurement cycle starts again and the temperature is cooled to set the lowest supersaturation), which corresponds roughly to the first 10 min of each hour (so 50 % of the 0.15 % supersaturation period). Additionally, the first minute of the transition between supersaturations was removed before averaging the data to 1 min time resolution. During some time periods, a difference pattern of mean and standard deviation of the measurements between even and odd hours was observed, most probably caused by a persistent pressure drop in the inlet lines, resulting in a proportional reduction of the concentration measurements. For correction, the 1-h arithmetic mean of interstitial inlet measurements and the mean of the two adjacent hours of total inlet measurements were subtracted, and the resulting difference was added as a constant to the data points of the interstitial inlet measurements. The dataset contains a pollution mask for local pollution (predominantly exhaust from the Research Vessel Polarstern) with 0 indicating clean, and 1 indicating polluted periods (Beck et al., 2022; Beck et al., 2022).