Resolving the strange behavior of extraterrestrial potassium in the upper atmosphere

Plane, J. M. C.; Feng, Wuhu; Dawkins, E. C. M.; Chipperfield, Martyn P.; Höffner, J.; Janches, Diego; Marsh, Daniel R.

doi:10.1002/2014gl060334

Cited by 48 publications

(129 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Na in Marsh et al (2013a), Fe in Feng et al (2013 and K in Plane et al (2014)), is used to investigate several important questions: for example what injection rate of Mg via the ablation of interplanetary dust particles is needed to explain the absolute Mg and Mg + densities; how well can Mg + -the only atomic ion to be observed on a global scale -be modelled; and is the coupling of longrange transport and chemistry in the MLT region correctly captured?…”

Section: Waccm-mg Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Here we use the specified dynamics SD-WACCM, which is nudged by the GEOS5 meteorological data set (including temperature, specific humidity, horizontal winds, see Suarez et al, 2008) below 60 km. This is the same version used by Feng et al (2013), Marsh et al (2013a) and Plane et al (2014), who successfully incorporated iron, sodium and potassium chemistry into WACCM.…”

Section: Waccm-mg Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Here we develop a global model of meteoric magnesium in the atmosphere by combining three components: a treatment of the injection of meteoric constituents into the atmosphere (Feng et al, 2013;Marsh et al, 2013a;Plane et al, 2014), a description of the neutral and ion-molecule chemistry of magnesium in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere Plane and Whalley, 2012) and WACCM. The Mg meteoroid injection function (MIF) has a similar seasonal variability as those of Fe and Na.…”

Section: Waccm-mg Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…McNeil et al (1998) and Vondrak et al (2008) for more details). For the micronsize particles of interest to this work, the ablation process occurs between 80 and 125 km altitude (Vondrak et al, 2008;Janches et al, 2009;Marsh et al, 2013a;Feng et al, 2013;Plane et al, 2014), resulting in the deposition of metallic atoms such as sodium (Na), iron (Fe), potassium (K) and magnesium (Mg) in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Global investigation of the Mg atom and ion layers using SCIAMACHY/Envisat observations between 70 and 150 km altitude and WACCM-Mg model results

et al. 2015

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Abstract. Mg and Mg + concentration fields in the upper mesosphere/lower thermosphere (UMLT) region are retrieved from SCIAMACHY/Envisat limb measurements of Mg and Mg + dayglow emissions using a 2-D tomographic retrieval approach. The time series of monthly mean Mg and Mg + number density and vertical column density in different latitudinal regions are presented. Data from the limb mesosphere-thermosphere mode of SCIAMACHY/Envisat are used, which cover the 50 to 150 km altitude region with a vertical sampling of ≈ 3.3 km and latitudes up to 82• . The high latitudes are not observed in the winter months, because there is no dayglow emission during polar night. The measurements were performed every 14 days from mid-2008 until April 2012. Mg profiles show a peak at around 90 km altitude with a density between 750 cm −3 and 1500 cm −3 . Mg does not show strong seasonal variation at latitudes below 40 • . For higher latitudes the density is lower and only in the Northern Hemisphere a seasonal cycle with a summer minimum is observed. The Mg + peak occurs 5-15 km above the neutral Mg peak altitude. These ions have a significant seasonal cycle with a summer maximum in both hemispheres at mid and high latitudes. The strongest seasonal variations of Mg + are observed at latitudes between 20 and 40• and the density at the peak altitude ranges from 500 cm −3 to 4000 cm −3 . The peak altitude of the ions shows a latitudinal dependence with a maximum at mid latitudes that is up to 10 km higher than the peak altitude at the equator.The SCIAMACHY measurements are compared to other measurements and WACCM model results. The WACCM results show a significant seasonal variability for Mg with a summer minimum, which is more clearly pronounced than for SCIAMACHY, and globally a higher peak density than the SCIAMACHY results. Although the peak density of both is not in agreement, the vertical column density agrees well, because SCIAMACHY and WACCM profiles have different widths. The agreement between SCIAMACHY and WACCM results is much better for Mg + with both showing the same seasonality and similar peak density. However, there are also minor differences, e.g. WACCM showing a nearly constant altitude of the Mg + layer's peak density for all latitudes and seasons.

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Section: Waccm-mg Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Waccm-mg Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Waccm-mg Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Global investigation of the Mg atom and ion layers using SCIAMACHY/Envisat observations between 70 and 150 km altitude and WACCM-Mg model results

et al. 2015

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“…A similar procedure was used to model the K layer, where the dimerization rate coefficient of KHCO3 was increased by a factor of 270 (Plane et al, 2014).…”

Section: Ca Chemistrymentioning

confidence: 99%

A new model of meteoric calcium in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere

Plane¹,

Feng²,

Martı́n³

et al. 2018

Preprint

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Abstract. Meteoric ablation produces layers of metal atoms in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT). It has been known for more than 30 years that the Ca atom layer is depleted by over 2 orders of magnitude compared with Na, despite these elements having essentially the same elemental abundance in chondritic meteorites. In contrast, the Ca + ion abundance 15 is depleted by less than a factor of 10. To explain these observations, a large data-base of neutral and ion-molecule reaction kinetics of Ca species, measured over the past decade, was incorporated into the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM). A new meteoric input function for Ca and Na, derived using a chemical ablation model that has been tested experimentally with a Meteoric Ablation Simulator, shows that Ca experiences significant differential ablation, by almost 1 order of magnitude, with respect to Na. WACCM-Ca simulates the seasonal Ca layer satisfactorily when compared with lidar 20 observations, but tends to overestimate Ca + measurements made by rocket mass spectrometry and lidar. A key finding is that CaOH and CaCO3 are very stable reservoir species because they are involved in essentially closed reaction cycles with O2 andO. This has been demonstrated experimentally for CaOH, and in this study for CaCO3 using electronic structure and statistical rate theory. Most of the neutral Ca is therefore locked in these reservoirs, enabling rapid loss through polymerization into meteoric smoke particles and explaining the extreme depletion of Ca. 25

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First report of sporadic K layers and comparison with sporadic Na layers at Beijing, China (40.6°N, 116.2°E)

et al. 2015

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A double-laser beam lidar was successfully developed to simultaneously measure K and Na layers at Beijing (40.6°N, 116.2°E) in 2010. Statistical analysis of the parameters of sporadic K (K s ) and sporadic Na (Nas) layers was performed over 2 years of lidar data, and different characteristics of them were found. The average K s occurrence (2.9%) was lower than that of Nas (5.9%); the Nas occurrence had a maximum (19.3%) in May-June months and a minimum (1.6%) in January-February months, while the K s occurrence had a maximum (4.9%) in January-February months and a minimum (1.0%) in September-October months; most K s peaks tended to occur around 93 km, which was~2 km lower than that of Nas (~95 km); the K s peak density was often at least 1 order of magnitude lower than that of Nas; notably, two K s with high peak densities (>1000 cm À3 ) were observed, which were much higher than K density (15-300 cm À3 ) reported before. The ascending time of K s was often longer than its descending time, but an opposite trend occurred for Nas. During the 152 cases of joint observation for the K and Na layers, 21% (32/152) were cases in which K s and Nas events simultaneously occurred, while 79% (120/152) were cases in which only one layer (K or Na) exhibited a strong K s or Nas.

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Resolving the strange behavior of extraterrestrial potassium in the upper atmosphere

Cited by 48 publications

References 30 publications

Global investigation of the Mg atom and ion layers using SCIAMACHY/Envisat observations between 70 and 150 km altitude and WACCM-Mg model results

Global investigation of the Mg atom and ion layers using SCIAMACHY/Envisat observations between 70 and 150 km altitude and WACCM-Mg model results

A new model of meteoric calcium in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere

First report of sporadic K layers and comparison with sporadic Na layers at Beijing, China (40.6°N, 116.2°E)

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