First observation of meteoritic charged dust in the tropical mesosphere

Gelinas, L. J.; Lynch, K. A.; Kelley, M. C.; Collins, S.; Baker, Steven; Zhou, Qihou; Friedman, J. S.

doi:10.1029/1998gl900089

Cited by 116 publications

(126 citation statements)

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“…Havnes et al (1996) flew a Faraday cup through NLC and found negative particles but also positive particles in number densities too large to be accounted for by the standard plasma charging model. Positive particles have also been observed by detectors of different designs Smiley et al, 2003) and in the absence of NLC conditions (Gelinas et al, 1998;Rapp et al, 2005;Amyx et al, 2008). The possibility of photoelectric charging has been considered (Havnes et al, 1990;Rapp and Lübken, 1999), but this would require a reduction of the work function of ice by easily-ionized impurities such as sodium.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…The aerosol particles reside in the D-region of the ionosphere and thus create dusty plasma (Goertz, 1989) of electrons, ions, and charged aerosol particles. Attachment of electrons to these aerosol particles reduces the electron mobility and allows the persistence of modulations in the electron Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mass analysis of charged aerosol particles in NLC and PMSE during the ECOMA/MASS campaign

et al. 2009

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Abstract. MASS (Mesospheric Aerosol Sampling Spectrometer) is a multichannel mass spectrometer for charged aerosol particles, which was flown from the Andøya Rocket Range, Norway, through NLC and PMSE on 3 August 2007 and through PMSE on 6 August 2007. The eight-channel analyzers provided for the first time simultaneous measurements of the charge density residing on aerosol particles in four mass ranges, corresponding to ice particles with radii <0.5 nm (including ions), 0.5-1 nm, 1-2 nm, and >3 nm (approximately). Positive and negative particles were recorded on separate channels. Faraday rotation measurements provided electron density and a means of checking charge density measurements made by the spectrometer. Additional complementary measurements were made by rocket-borne dust impact detectors, electric field booms, a photometer and ground-based radar and lidar. The MASS data from the first flight showed negative charge number densities of 1500-3000 cm −3 for particles with radii >3 nm from 83-88 km approximately coincident with PMSE observed by the ALWIN radar and NLC observed by the ALOMAR lidar. For particles in the 1-2 nm range, number densities of positive and negative charge were similar in magnitude (∼2000 cm −3 ) and for smaller particles, 0.5-1 nm in radius, positive charge was dominant. The occurrence of positive charge on the aerosol particles of the smallest size and predominately negative charge on the particles of largest size suggests that nucleCorrespondence to: S. Knappmiller (knappmil@colorado.edu) ation occurs on positive condensation nuclei and is followed by collection of negative charge during subsequent growth to larger size. Faraday rotation measurements show a bite-out in electron density that increases the time for positive aerosol particles to be neutralized and charged negatively. The larger particles (>3 nm) are observed throughout the NLC region, 83-88 km, and the smaller particles are observed primarily at the high end of the range, 86-88 km. The second flight into PMSE alone at 84-88 km, found only small number densities (∼500 cm −3 ) of particles >3 nm in a narrow altitude range, 86.5-87.5 km. Both positive (∼2000 cm −3 ) and negative (∼4500 cm −3 ) particles with radii 1-2 nm were detected from 85-87.5 km.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mass analysis of charged aerosol particles in NLC and PMSE during the ECOMA/MASS campaign

et al. 2009

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“…This lack of knowledge is mainly due to the complications involved in measurements at these altitudes where in situ studies only can be carried out using sounding rockets. Because of the difficulties in detecting neutral particles, measurements of nanometre-sized particles in the mesosphere are so far only 4416 L. Megner et al: Meteoric smoke particle distribution available for the charged fraction of the total particle population (Schulte and Arnold, 1992;Gelinas et al, 1998;Croskey et al, 2001;Lynch et al, 2005;Rapp et al, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distribution of meteoric smoke – sensitivity to microphysical properties and atmospheric conditions

2006

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Abstract. Meteoroids entering the Earth's atmosphere experience strong deceleration and ablate, whereupon the resulting material is believed to re-condense to nanometre-size "smoke particles". These particles are thought to be of great importance for many middle atmosphere phenomena, such as noctilucent clouds, polar mesospheric summer echoes, metal layers, and heterogeneous chemistry. The properties and distribution of meteoric smoke depend on poorly known or highly variable factors such as the amount, composition and velocity of incoming meteoric material, the efficiency of coagulation, and the state and circulation of the atmosphere. This work uses a one-dimensional microphysical model to investigate the sensitivities of meteoric smoke properties to these poorly known or highly variable factors. The resulting uncertainty or variability of meteoric smoke quantities such as number density, mass density, and size distribution are determined. It is found that the two most important factors are the efficiency of the coagulation and background vertical wind. The seasonal variation of the vertical wind in the mesosphere implies strong global and temporal variations in the meteoric smoke distribution. This contrasts the simplistic picture of a homogeneous global meteoric smoke layer, which is currently assumed in many studies of middle atmospheric phenomena. In particular, our results suggest a very low number of nanometre-sized smoke particles at the summer mesopause where they are thought to serve as condensation nuclei for noctilucent clouds.

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“…Among these are the nucleation of mesospheric ice particles (e.g., Rapp and Thomas, 2006), the mesospheric metal chemistry , the D-region charge balance (e.g., Rapp and Lübken, 2001), the heterogeneous formation of water vapour in the mesosphere (Summers et al, 2001), and even the nucleation of polar stratospheric cloud particles which play a major role in the formation of the ozone hole (e.g., Voigt et al, 2005). While some progress regarding the experimental investigation of these atmospheric trace species has been made over the past years with sounding rockets (e.g., Schulte and Arnold, 1992;Gelinas et al, 1998;Horányi et al, 2000;Rapp et al, 2005;Lynch et al, 2005;Barjatya and Swenson, 2006;Amyx et al, 2008;Strelnikova et al, 2009;Rapp et al, 2010), incoherent scatter radars Strelnikova et al, 2007;Fentzke et al, 2009), satellites (Hervig et al, 2009(Hervig et al, , 2012, and laboratory studies (Saunders and Plane, 2006), much of our knowledge about these particles still relies on model results (e.g., Hunten et al, 1980;Gabrielli et al, 2004;Megner et al, 2006Megner et al, , 2008Bardeen et al, 2008). Among other things, very little is still known about the physical and chemical properties of MSPs such as their composition and their electrical and optical properties.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

In situ observations of meteor smoke particles (MSP) during the Geminids 2010: constraints on MSP size, work function and composition

et al. 2012

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Abstract. We present in situ observations of meteoric smoke particles (MSP) obtained during three sounding rocket flights in December 2010 in the frame of the final campaign of the Norwegian-German ECOMA project (ECOMA = Existence and Charge state Of meteoric smoke particles in the Middle Atmosphere). The flights were conducted before, at the maximum activity, and after the decline of the Geminids which is one of the major meteor showers over the year. Measurements with the ECOMA particle detector yield both profiles of naturally charged particles (Faraday cup measurement) as well as profiles of photoelectrons emitted by the MSPs due to their irradiation by photons of a xenon-flash lamp. The column density of negatively charged MSPs decreased steadily from flight to flight which is in agreement with a corresponding decrease of the sporadic meteor flux recorded during the same period. This implies that the sporadic meteors are a major source of MSPs while the additional influx due to the shower meteors apparently did not play any significant role. Surprisingly, the profiles of photoelectrons are only partly compatible with this observation: while the photoelectron current profiles obtained during the first and third flight of the campaign showed a qualitatively similar behaviour as the MSP charge density data, the profile from the second flight (i.e., at the peak of the Geminids) shows much smaller photoelectron currents. This may tentatively be interpreted as a different MSP composition (and, hence, different photoelectric properties) during this second flight, but at this stage we are not in a position to conclude that there is a cause and effect relation between the Geminids and this observation. Finally, the ECOMA particle detector used during the first and third flight employed three instead of only one xenon flash lamp where each of the three lamps used for one flight had a different window material resulting in different cut off wavelengths for these three lamp types. Taking into account these data along with simple model estimates as well as rigorous quantum chemical calculations, it is argued that constraints on MSP sizes, work function and composition can be inferred. Comparing the measured data to a simple model of the photoelectron currents, we tentatively conclude that we observed MSPs in the 0.5-3 nm size range with generally increasing particle size with decreasing altitude. Notably, this size information can be obtained because different MSP particle sizes are expected to result in different work functions which is both supported by simple classical arguments as well as quantum chemical calculations. clusters, rather than metal silicates, are the major constituents of the smoke particles.

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First observation of meteoritic charged dust in the tropical mesosphere

Cited by 116 publications

References 10 publications

Mass analysis of charged aerosol particles in NLC and PMSE during the ECOMA/MASS campaign

Mass analysis of charged aerosol particles in NLC and PMSE during the ECOMA/MASS campaign

Distribution of meteoric smoke – sensitivity to microphysical properties and atmospheric conditions

In situ observations of meteor smoke particles (MSP) during the Geminids 2010: constraints on MSP size, work function and composition

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