Meteor smoke particles (MSP), which are thought to be the nucleation germs for mesospheric ice, are currently discussed to consist of highly absorbing materials such as magnesiowüstite, hematite or magnesium-iron-silicates and may therefore be warmer than the ambient atmosphere. In order to quantify the temperature difference between MSP and the atmosphere we developed a model to calculate the MSP equilibrium temperature in radiational and collisional balance. The temperature difference between MSP and the surrounding atmosphere strongly depends on the composition of the MSP, especially on the relative iron content, where a higher iron content leads to warmer MSP. We then derive an expression of the nucleation rate of mesospheric ice particles which explicitly accounts for this temperature difference. We find that the nucleation rate is strongly reduced by several orders of magnitude if the germ temperature is increased by only a few Kelvin. Implementing this nucleation rate depending on the germ temperature into CARMA, the Community Aerosol and Radiation Model for Atmospheres, we find that fewer but larger ice particles are formed compared to a reference scenario with no temperature difference between MSP and ambient atmosphere. This may indicate that iron-rich MSP are not ideal ice nuclei and that either other MSP-types or other nucleation pathways (e.g. wave induced heterogeneous nucleation or even homogeneous nucleation) are responsible for ice formation at the mesopause.

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Abstract. We present results of in situ measurements of mesosphere-lower thermosphere dusty-plasma densities including electrons, positive ions and charged aerosols conducted during the WADIS-2 sounding rocket campaign. The neutral air density was also measured, allowing for robust derivation of turbulence energy dissipation rates. A unique feature of these measurements is that they were done in a true common volume and with high spatial resolution. This allows for a reliable derivation of mean sizes and a size distribution function for the charged meteor smoke particles (MSPs). The mean particle radius derived from Schmidt numbers obtained from electron density fluctuations was ∼ 0.56 nm. We assumed a lognormal size distribution of the charged meteor smoke particles and derived the distribution width of 1.66 based on in situ-measured densities of different plasma constituents. We found that layers of enhanced meteor smoke particles' density measured by the particle detector coincide with enhanced Schmidt numbers obtained from the electron and neutral density fluctuations. Thus, we found that large particles with sizes > 1 nm were stratified in layers of ∼ 1 km thickness and lying some kilometers apart from each other.

Abstract. In this paper we present an overview of measurements conducted during the WADIS-2 rocket campaign. We investigate the effect of small-scale processes like gravity waves and turbulence on the distribution of atomic oxygen and other species in the mesosphere–lower thermosphere (MLT) region. Our analysis suggests that density fluctuations of atomic oxygen are coupled to fluctuations of other constituents, i.e., plasma and neutrals. Our measurements show that all measured quantities, including winds, densities, and temperatures, reveal signatures of both waves and turbulence. We show observations of gravity wave saturation and breakdown together with simultaneous measurements of generated turbulence. Atomic oxygen inside turbulence layers shows two different spectral behaviors, which might imply a change in its diffusion properties.