Optical studies of rocket exhaust trails and artificial noctilucent clouds produced by Soyuz rocket launches

Dalin, Peter; Perminov, V. I.; Pertsev, N. N.; Dubietis, A.; Zadorozhny, A. M.; Smirnov, A.V.; Mezentsev, A. N.; Frandsen, S.; Grønne, Jesper; Hansen, O.; Andersen, Henrik L.; McEachran, I.; McEwan, Tom; Rowlands, J.; Meyerdierks, H.; Zalcik, Mark; Connors, Martin; Schofield, Ian; Veselovsky, I. S.

doi:10.1002/jgrd.50549

Cited by 11 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Modeling this effect, however, requires a model with very fine spatial grid size to account for the supersonic waves initiated by the rocket itself as the moving object. Additionally, the ballon‐shaped contrails (or gasdynamic holes) seen in optical imager around turbopause resulting from collisional shocks in the rocket wake [ Platov and Kosch , ; Platov et al ., ; Molchanov and Platov , ; Dalin et al ., ] were not adequately reproduced in our model in comparison to imager observations. It is possibly that our assumptions of artificial viscosity and model grid size are insufficient to capture the effects of colliding shocks in the rocket wake.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Observation and simulation of the ionosphere disturbance waves triggered by rocket exhausts

et al. 2017

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Observations and theoretical modeling of the ionospheric disturbance waves generated by rocket launches are investigated. During the rocket passage, time rate change of total electron content (rTEC) enhancement with the V‐shape shock wave signature is commonly observed, followed by acoustic wave disturbances and region of negative rTEC centered along the trajectory. Ten to fifteen min after the rocket passage, delayed disturbance waves appeared and propagated along direction normal to the V‐shape wavefronts. These observation features appeared most prominently in the 2016 North Korea rocket launch showing a very distinct V‐shape rTEC enhancement over enormous areas along the southeast flight trajectory despite that it was also appeared in the 2009 North Korea rocket launch with the eastward flight trajectory. Numerical simulations using the physical‐based nonlinear and nonhydrostatic coupled model of neutral atmosphere and ionosphere reproduce promised results in qualitative agreement with the characteristics of ionospheric disturbance waves observed in the 2009 event by considering the released energy of the rocket exhaust as the disturbance source. Simulations reproduce the shock wave signature of electron density enhancement, acoustic wave disturbances, the electron density depletion due to the rocket‐induced pressure bulge, and the delayed disturbance waves. The pressure bulge results in outward neutral wind flows carrying neutrals and plasma away from it and leading to electron density depletions. Simulations further show, for the first time, that the delayed disturbance waves are produced by the surface reflection of the earlier arrival acoustic wave disturbances.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Observation and simulation of the ionosphere disturbance waves triggered by rocket exhausts

et al. 2017

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“…Verification of the results with other measurements from the same altitude range would be useful. The available measurements are limited, but the analysis of rocket exhaust trails [see, e.g., Meier et al , ; Dalin et al , ] offers the potential for further analysis of turbulence dynamics in this region. The rocket exhaust trails are long‐lived and provide extended observations that extend to even higher altitudes.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Structure function analysis of chemical tracer trails in the mesosphere‐lower thermosphere region

Roberts

Larsen

2014

JGR Atmospheres

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Trimethyl aluminum (TMA) trails released from sounding rockets have been used extensively as a tracer of the neutral atmospheric motions in the mesosphere/lower thermosphere region and serve as a tracer of the atmospheric structure in the altitude range where the trails are released. In addition to the bulk motion corresponding to the winds, smaller‐scale structure is also evident in the trail images, which can be an indication of turbulence or small‐scale wave behavior. In the 90 to 100 km altitude range, the trails are often visible for periods of 20 to 30 min or even longer, so that the horizontal scale sizes spanned by the trails increase significantly as the trails expand due to the combined effects of turbulent diffusion and horizontal displacements due to vertical shears in the winds. We describe a study involving data from high‐, middle‐, and low‐latitude TMA releases. In each case the structure function for the fluctuation structure within the trails was calculated for a sequence of trail images. Each image in the sequence corresponds to an outer horizontal spatial scale that increases with time. By analyzing the time evolution of the structure function, changes in the dynamical processes associated with the form of the structure function have been identified as a function of time and thus also of the increasing horizontal spatial scale size. A consistent pattern is found for all locations, namely a transition in fitted exponent for the structure function that suggests a change from more isotropic turbulence immediately after the trail is released to stratified turbulence at the later times when the horizontal scale size has increased to several hundred kilometers. The transition is found to occur near a horizontal spatial scale in the range between 100 and 200 km.

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“…Baumgarten et al [2012] found that NLCs can behave like a passive tracer for about an hour and are blown downstream several hundred kilometers. Dalin et al [2013b] showed that artificial NLCs induced by rocket exhaust traveled from Plesetsk via Denmark to UK for 9 h. Wave streaks or bands can move by a speed of tens to hundreds meters per second depending on the wavelengths, resulting in rapid local variations in the cloud brightness [e.g., Witt, 1962;Fogle and Haurwitz, 1966]. A unique combination of the physics exists behind each cloud structure and therefore some degree of randomness is perceived in these variations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Horizontal winds derived from the polar mesospheric cloud images as observed by the CIPS instrument on the AIM satellite

et al. 2015

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A cloud pattern matching technique is applied to polar mesospheric cloud (PMC) images taken by the Cloud Imaging and Particle Size instrument (CIPS) to infer the wind velocities in the mesopause region. CIPS measurements are analyzed to detect patterns that repeat from one orbit to the next but are displaced in location; the displacement provides a measure of the wind velocity. Pattern matching is achieved by resampling the CIPS data to longitude and latitude grids with the grid-box size forced at~5 km in both directions. The correlated patterns are searched within a geographic region referred to as a "frame" of 500 km in longitude × 400 km in latitude. The histograms of the derived velocities indicate that easterly winds prevail, with a mean zonal wind of À20 to À15 m/s. Mean meridional winds are overall small, but in late summer the histogram indicated a poleward wind of~20-30 m/s. The variability of CIPS cloud albedo on consecutive orbits is also examined at fixed geolocations. The statistical results suggest that~86% of pairs underwent mean cloud albedo variation of < 50% on consecutive orbits, suggesting a moderate change. It is also found that the correlation of the cloud structures between two consecutive orbits at a fixed location is generally poor. These findings suggest that cloud patterns are subject to wind advection, but the cloud patches are more extended in size than the movement that occurs. Cloud voids are found to be more likely to remain at the same geolocations.

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Optical studies of rocket exhaust trails and artificial noctilucent clouds produced by Soyuz rocket launches

Cited by 11 publications

References 39 publications

Observation and simulation of the ionosphere disturbance waves triggered by rocket exhausts

Observation and simulation of the ionosphere disturbance waves triggered by rocket exhausts

Structure function analysis of chemical tracer trails in the mesosphere‐lower thermosphere region

Horizontal winds derived from the polar mesospheric cloud images as observed by the CIPS instrument on the AIM satellite

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