Magnetic and Ionospheric Effects of a Meteoroid Plume

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the study of the possibility of products of a meteoroid explosion in the atmosphere (meteoroid plume) to reach ionospheric altitudes. It has been shown that, in the case of meter-sized or larger space bodies entering the atmosphere, the plume is able to reach the lower ionosphere. The plume can be one of the sources of the formation of nacreous and noctilucent clouds. The aerosols ejected by the plume to lower ionospheric altitudes can lead to the formation of dust plasma, significantly changing the electrodynamic properties of the medium. The motion of the plume with a velocity of ~1 km/s is accompanied by the generation of a ballistic shock with a radius of 1–10 km. The relative excess pressure in the shock front can cause relative disturbances in the electron content at the altitudes of D, E, and F1 layers by ~10–100%. The geomagnetic effect of the plume and ballistic shock can reach ~1–10 nT.