Meteor plasma trails: effects of external electric field

Dimant, Y. S.; Oppenheim, M. M.; Milikh, G. M.

doi:10.5194/angeo-27-279-2009

Cited by 14 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…This reduces the original problem of finding the potential in a highly anisotropic, weakly conducting plasmas to a classic problem of finding the potential around an infinitely conducting ellipsoid embedded in vacuum with a given uniform external field (e.g., Landau and Lifshitz, 1960). Dimant et al (2009) describes this approach in detail, so here we only present the crucial steps and give the results.…”

Section: External Fields and Currentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The analytic solution becomes possible via use of renormalized variables and a series of coordinate transformation that reduce the entire plasma problem to a classical solution for an ideally-conducting ellipsoid embedded in vacuum with a given external field. Recently, we have developed such an approach for elongated meteor plasma trails (Dimant et al, 2009). In this paper, we generalize this approach and extend it to pancake-like sporadic-E layers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(16) outside the ellipsoid, assuming a given potential = int ≡ −E int · X on the cloudionosphere interface and the asymptotic boundary condition, → −E ext · X far from the interface. Similarly to Dimant et al (2009), we extrapolate the internal linear potential to the entire space and introduce ≡ − int . On the ellipsoidal interface, = 0, while far from the cloud asymptotically approaches (E int − E ext ) · X.…”

Section: External Fields and Currentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Section 6 summarizes our model assumptions and the major results. Appendix A presents the mathematical details of coordinate transformations, while Appendix B discusses an extended (rod-like) cloud, such as, e.g., a meteor plasma trail and finds the plasma density restriction for the elongated-structure solution as presented in Dimant et al (2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(3), we will perform a series of coordinate transformations similar to those made by Dimant et al (2009). These transformations consist of several sequential steps described in detail in Appendix A.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Interaction of plasma cloud with external electric field in lower ionosphere

Dimant

Oppenheim

2010

Ann. Geophys.

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Abstract. In the auroral lower-E and upper-D region of the ionosphere, plasma clouds, such as sporadic-E layers and meteor plasma trails, occur daily. Large-scale electric fields, created by the magnetospheric dynamo, will polarize these highly conducting clouds, redistributing the electrostatic potential and generating anisotropic currents both within and around the cloud. Using a simplified model of the cloud and the background ionosphere, we develop the first selfconsistent three-dimensional analytical theory of these phenomena. For dense clouds, this theory predicts highly amplified electric fields around the cloud, along with strong currents collected from the ionosphere and circulated through the cloud. This has implications for the generation of plasma instabilities, electron heating, and global MHD modeling of magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling via modifications of conductances induced by sporadic-E clouds.

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Section: External Fields and Currentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: External Fields and Currentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Interaction of plasma cloud with external electric field in lower ionosphere

Dimant

Oppenheim

2010

Ann. Geophys.

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First 3‐D simulations of meteor plasma dynamics and turbulence

Oppenheim

Dimant

2015

Geophysical Research Letters

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Millions of small but detectable meteors hit the Earth's atmosphere every second, creating trails of hot plasma that turbulently diffuse into the background atmosphere. For over 60 years, radars have detected meteor plasmas and used these signals to infer characteristics of the meteoroid population and upper atmosphere, but, despite the importance of meteor radar measurements, the complex processes by which these plasmas evolve have never been thoroughly explained or modeled. In this paper, we present the first fully 3‐D simulations of meteor evolution, showing meteor plasmas developing instabilities, becoming turbulent, and inhomogeneously diffusing into the background ionosphere. These instabilities explain the characteristics and strength of many radar observations, in particular the high‐resolution nonspecular echoes made by large radars. The simulations reveal how meteors create strong electric fields that dig out deep plasma channels along the Earth's magnetic fields. They also allow researchers to explore the impacts of the intense winds and wind shears, commonly found at these altitudes, on meteor plasma evolution. This study will allow the development of more sophisticated models of meteor radar signals, enabling the extraction of detailed information about the properties of meteoroid particles and the atmosphere.

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Structural evolution of long‐duration meteor trail irregularities driven by neutral wind

Ning

Chu

et al. 2014

JGR Space Physics

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An experiment on spatial domain interferometry observations of meteor trail irregularities at a low-latitude location in China was conducted during August 2013 using the Sanya VHF coherent radar (18.4°N, 109.6°E). More than 3 thousand range-spread meteor trail echoes (RSTEs) were observed. Among the trail echoes, the spatial structure of meteor trail irregularities responsible for a single long-duration RSTE event persisting for~4 min was reconstructed. This RSTE was found to be initially generated at 90-115 km altitudes and aligned along the radar beam boresight. After about the first minute of the trail lifetime, the trail echo appeared only in a narrow altitude range of 94-98 km. An analysis on the spatial pattern of the long-duration RSTE showed that the trail irregularities at lower range gates moved away from the region perpendicular to the geomagnetic field. The eastward drifts of the RSTE irregularities were found to decrease with increasing altitude, e.g., from 80 ms À1 at~94 km to 20 ms À1 at~100 km. Simultaneous horizontal neutral wind measurements made with the Fuke all-sky meteor radar (located north of Sanya) recorded a similar velocity profile. We suggest that the neutral wind could drive the spatial structural evolution of the RSTE irregularities, and help to determine the altitudes where the longest portion of the RSTE was located.

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Meteor plasma trails: effects of external electric field

Cited by 14 publications

References 24 publications

Interaction of plasma cloud with external electric field in lower ionosphere

Interaction of plasma cloud with external electric field in lower ionosphere

First 3‐D simulations of meteor plasma dynamics and turbulence

Structural evolution of long‐duration meteor trail irregularities driven by neutral wind

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