Abstract
Abstract. This work investigates the influence of meteoric smoke particles (MSP) on the charge balance in the D-region ionosphere. Both experimental in situ measurements and a one-dimensional ionospheric model reveal a clear impact of MSP on the ionospheric composition of the D-region. The study reviews rocket-borne in situ measurements of electron and positive ion density, which show a distinct deficit of electrons in comparison to positive ions between 80 and 95 km. This deficit can be explained by the ambient negatively charged MSP measured simultaneously with a Faraday cup. The influence of MSP on the D-region charge balance is addressed with a simplified ionospheric model with only six components, i.e. electrons, positive and negative ions and neutral and charged MSP (both signs). The scheme includes reactions of plasma captured by MSP and MSP photo reactions as well as the standard ionospheric processes, e.g. ion-ion recombination. The model shows that the capture of plasma constituents by MSP is an important process leading to scavenging of electrons. Since Faraday cup measurements are biased towards heavy MSP because of aerodynamical filtering, we have applied an estimate of this filter on the modelled MSP densities. By doing that, we find good qualitative agreement between the experimental data and our model results. In addition, the model study reveals an increase of positive ions in the presence of MSP. That is primarily caused by the reduced dissociative recombination with electrons which have been removed from the gas phase by the MSP.
Highlights
Impacts of meteors on the Earth’s atmosphere occur continuously and can be monitored by optical and radio methods
Both in situ measurements and a one-dimensional ionospheric model were used to show a clear impact of meteor smoke particles (MSP) on the ionospheric composition of the D-region
We addressed the influence of MSP on the D-region charge balance in a simplified ionospheric model with six components, i.e. electrons, positive and negative ions and neutral and charged MSP
Summary
Impacts of meteors on the Earth’s atmosphere occur continuously and can be monitored by optical and radio methods. A loss of electrons due to scavenging by MSP, especially during nighttime, has been identified by Friedrich et al (2012) using simultaneous electron and positive ion density measurements on sounding rockets Our study addresses this influence on the D-region charge balance by reexamining in situ measurements of the MSP charge number density and the plasma measurements Besides the standard ionospheric reactions such as ionization (Q), dissociative recombination (α) and ion-ion recombination (β) we consider MSP plasma capture reactions and MSP photo reactions in this one-dimensional ionospheric model Using this very simple reaction scheme we can readily reproduce the observed electron loss due to the presence of MSP at nighttime Using this very simple reaction scheme we can readily reproduce the observed electron loss due to the presence of MSP at nighttime (Sect. 3.3)
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