Dust charging and density conditions deduced from observations of PMWE modulated by artificial electron heating

Havnes, O.; Hoz, C. La; Rietveld, M. T.; Kassa, M.; Baroni, G.; Biebricher, Alexander

doi:10.1029/2011jd016411

Cited by 17 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…Furthermore it is considered that MSP influence the plasma of the D-region ionosphere and might be involved in creating so-called polar mesospheric winter echoes (see e.g. Havnes et al, 2011).…”

Section: Baumann Et Al: Meteor Smoke Influences On the D-region Cmentioning

confidence: 99%

Meteor smoke influences on the D-region charge balance – review of recent in situ measurements and one-dimensional model results

et al. 2013

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Abstract. This work investigates the influence of meteoric smoke particles (MSP) on the charge balance in the D-region ionosphere. Both experimental in situ measurements and a one-dimensional ionospheric model reveal a clear impact of MSP on the ionospheric composition of the D-region. The study reviews rocket-borne in situ measurements of electron and positive ion density, which show a distinct deficit of electrons in comparison to positive ions between 80 and 95 km. This deficit can be explained by the ambient negatively charged MSP measured simultaneously with a Faraday cup. The influence of MSP on the D-region charge balance is addressed with a simplified ionospheric model with only six components, i.e. electrons, positive and negative ions and neutral and charged MSP (both signs). The scheme includes reactions of plasma captured by MSP and MSP photo reactions as well as the standard ionospheric processes, e.g. ionion recombination. The model shows that the capture of plasma constituents by MSP is an important process leading to scavenging of electrons. Since Faraday cup measurements are biased towards heavy MSP because of aerodynamical filtering, we have applied an estimate of this filter on the modelled MSP densities. By doing that, we find good qualitative agreement between the experimental data and our model results. In addition, the model study reveals an increase of positive ions in the presence of MSP. That is primarily caused by the reduced dissociative recombination with electrons which have been removed from the gas phase by the MSP.

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Section: Baumann Et Al: Meteor Smoke Influences On the D-region Cmentioning

confidence: 99%

Meteor smoke influences on the D-region charge balance – review of recent in situ measurements and one-dimensional model results

et al. 2013

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“…Typical values for Sc found in PMSEs are several hundred on average and can often be several thousands (Lübken et al, 1994;Li et al, 2010;Rapp et al, 2011;Strelnikov and Rapp, 2011). The same mechanism but involving MSPs was proposed to explain the PMWEs in the case when neutral turbulence is not sufficiently large (e.g., Kavanagh et al, 2006;Lübken et al, 2007;Kero et al, 2008;La Hoz and Havnes, 2008;Havnes and Kassa, 2009;Havnes et al, 2011;Strelnikova and Rapp, 2013;Stebel et al, 2004;Belova et al, 2008). The latter has not yet been confirmed by direct measurement.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…The latter is only possible when MSPs produce secondary effects by influencing properties of ionospheric plasma which leads to radar echoes (PMWEs). There are also active radar experiments that heat free electrons at MLT heights by HF waves emitted from the ground and, in parallel, examine the behavior of PMWEs in VHF band (Kero et al, 2008;Havnes and Kassa, 2009;La Hoz and Havnes, 2008;Belova et al, 2008;Havnes et al, 2011). The so-called heating experiments gave a strong indication that dust is involved in the PMWE formation and that there are large charged particles on the order of ∼ 3 nm at lower altitudes (Havnes et al, 2011) which also substantiate the increase in the number of large particles with decreasing altitude.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…It has been shown that MSPs are important for the D-region charge balance (Friedrich et al, 2011Baumann et al, 2013Baumann et al, , 2015Robertson et al, 2014;Asmus et al, 2015). Moving with the background flow and bound to neutral air turbulence, charged MSPs are also suggested to be potentially involved in the formation of so-called polar mesospheric winter echoes (PMWEs) (e.g., Kavanagh et al, 2006;Lübken et al, 2007;Kero et al, 2008;La Hoz and Havnes, 2008;Havnes and Kassa, 2009;Havnes et al, 2011;Strelnikova and Rapp, 2013;Stebel et al, 2004;Belova et al, 2008). There are also theories explaining the formation of PMWEs by neutral turbulence and an increased electron density (e.g., Lübken et al, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Estimate of size distribution of charged MSPs measured in situ in winter during the WADIS-2 sounding rocket campaign

et al. 2017

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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.

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“…It is commonly believed that MSPs could serve as nuclei for heterogeneous nucleation of mesospheric ice particles which cause the strong radar returns known as Polar Mesospheric Summer Echoes (PMSE) (see e.g., review by Rapp and Thomas, 2006). There are a number of works suggesting that MSPs play a key role in formation of the Polar Mesospheric Winter Echoes (PMWE) similar to the mechanism including ice particles 15 in summer for PMSE-formation (e.g., Chen and Scales, 2005;Kavanagh et al, 2006;Belova et al, 2008;Kero et al, 2008;La Hoz and Havnes, 2008;Havnes and Kassa, 2009;Havnes et al, 2011;Mahmoudian et al, 2017). This hypothesis is supported by indirect measurements (e.g., Belova et al, 2008;Kero et al, 2008;La Hoz and Havnes, 2008;Havnes and Kassa, 2009;Havnes et al, 2011), however a verification by direct in-situ measurements is still needed.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Photocurrent modelling and experimental confirmation for Meteor Smoke Particle Detectors onboard atmospheric sounding rockets

Giono¹,

Strelnikov²,

Asmus³

et al. 2018

Preprint

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Abstract. Characterizing the photoelectron current induced by the Sun's UV radiation is crucial to ensure accurate day-light measurements from particle detectors. This article lays out the methodology used to address this problem in the case of the rent was created based on the expected solar UV flux, the atmospheric UV absorption as a function of height by molecular oxygen and ozone, the photoelectric yield of the material coating the MSPD as a function of wavelength, the index of refraction of these materials as a function of wavelength and the angle of incidence of the illumination onto the MSPD. Due to its complex structure composed of a central electrode shielded by two concentric grids, extensive ray tracing calculations were conducted to obtain the incidence angles of the illumination on the central electrode, and this for various orientations of the 10 MSPD with respect to the Sun. Results of the modelled photocurrent at different heights and for different materials, as well as for different orientation of the detector, are presented. As a pre-flight confirmation, the model was used to reproduce the experimental measurements conducted by Robertson et al. (2014) and agrees within an order of magnitude. An experimental setup for the calibration of the MSPD photocurrent is also presented. The photocurrent induced by the Lyman-alpha line from a deuterium lamp was recorded inside a vacuum chamber using a narrow-band filter, while an UV-sensitive photodiode was 15 used to monitor the UV flux. These measurements were compared with the model prediction, and also matched within an order of magnitude. Although precisely modelling the photocurrent is a challenging task, this article quantitatively improved the understanding of the photocurrent on the MSPD and discusses possible strategies to untangle the MSP current from the photocurrent recorded in-flight.

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Dust charging and density conditions deduced from observations of PMWE modulated by artificial electron heating

Cited by 17 publications

References 40 publications

Meteor smoke influences on the D-region charge balance – review of recent in situ measurements and one-dimensional model results

Meteor smoke influences on the D-region charge balance – review of recent in situ measurements and one-dimensional model results

Estimate of size distribution of charged MSPs measured in situ in winter during the WADIS-2 sounding rocket campaign

Photocurrent modelling and experimental confirmation for Meteor Smoke Particle Detectors onboard atmospheric sounding rockets

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