Air Chemistry and Boundary Layer Studies with AURORA

An experimental technique for measuring air conductivity using AURORA is described. Experimental results for dry air and N2 are presented and compared with theory. A simple theory of the boundary layer that forms at the negative plate of the instrument is developed. The results for dry air and N2 appear to agree well with the theory, although there is some uncertainty in the absolute calibration of the data. A refined version of the experiment will eliminate most of the uncertainties in the calibration of the early results and will also be used to obtain wet air data.