Retrieval of metal atom and ion number densities in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere
Abstract
When meteoroids enter the Earth's atmosphere with velocities of several 10 km/s, they heat up due to frictional heating and meteoric material is ablated in the upper atmosphere at around 100 km. A certain part of this ablated material are metal atoms and ions, which form layers of about 10 km width at altitudes between 80 to 110 km. The metal atoms and ions are strong emitters of dayglow coming from resonance fluorescence. From satellite observations of these emission signature, densities of the metal atom and ion layers can be retrieved. From the densities of the metal layers in combination with model simulations the input rate of meteoric material can be estimated, which still shows a large uncertainty range between 1 to 300 tons per day. We will present results of the number density retrievals from the SCIAMACHY limb mesosphere and lower thermosphere measurements from 2008 to 2012 for Mg, Mg^{+} and Na.
- Publication:
-
41st COSPAR Scientific Assembly
- Pub Date:
- July 2016
- Bibcode:
- 2016cosp...41E1112L