In-situ measurement of smoke particles in the wintertime polar mesosphere between 80 and 85km altitude

Amyx, K.; Sternovsky, Z.; Knappmiller, S.; Robertson, Scott; Horányi, M.; Gumbel, J.

doi:10.1016/j.jastp.2007.09.013

Cited by 40 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…Rocket-borne detection of charged particles with concentrations of the order of thousands per cm 3 at an altitude between 80 and 90 km (Amyx et al, 2008;Rapp et al, 2012;Friedrich et al, 2012;Plane et al, 2014) confirms the previous remote sensing studies. At lower altitudes in the Arctic vortex stratosphere, the abundance of non-volatile aerosol material was observed by means of airborne in situ investigations at up to 21 km (Curtius et al, 2005;Weigel et al, 2014), yielding about 100 particles per milligram of air, providing a fractional contribution of up to 75 % to the total concentration of in-vortex particles.…”

supporting

confidence: 86%

Chemical analysis of refractory stratospheric aerosol particles collected within the arctic vortex and inside polar stratospheric clouds

et al. 2016

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Abstract. Stratospheric aerosol particles with diameters larger than about 10 nm were collected within the arctic vortex during two polar flight campaigns: RECONCILE in winter 2010 and ESSenCe in winter 2011. Impactors were installed on board the aircraft M-55 Geophysica, which was operated from Kiruna, Sweden. Flights were performed at a height of up to 21 km and some of the particle samples were taken within distinct polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs). The chemical composition, size and morphology of refractory particles were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray microanalysis. During ESSenCe no refractory particles with diameters above 500 nm were sampled. In total 116 small silicate, Fe-rich, Pb-rich and aluminum oxide spheres were found. In contrast to ESSenCe in early winter, during the late-winter RECONCILE mission the air masses were subsiding inside the Arctic winter vortex from the upper stratosphere and mesosphere, thus initializing a transport of refractory aerosol particles into the lower stratosphere. During RECONCILE, 759 refractory particles with diameters above 500 nm were found consisting of silicates, silicate / carbon mixtures, Fe-rich particles, Ca-rich particles and complex metal mixtures. In the size range below 500 nm the presence of soot was also proven. While the data base is still sparse, the general tendency of a lower abundance of refractory particles during PSC events compared to non-PSC situations was observed. The detection of large refractory particles in the stratosphere, as well as the experimental finding that these particles were not observed in the particle samples (upper size limit ∼ 5 µm) taken during PSC events, strengthens the hypothesis that such particles are present in the lower polar stratosphere in late winter and have provided a surface for heterogeneous nucleation during PSC formation.

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supporting

confidence: 86%

Chemical analysis of refractory stratospheric aerosol particles collected within the arctic vortex and inside polar stratospheric clouds

et al. 2016

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“…Havnes and Naesheim (2007) suggested that mesospheric dust particles fragment during impact and that much or all of the ice within which the meteoric smoke particles are embedded, sublimates, while the meteoric smoke particles carry away charge from the surface where the impact takes place. The secondary charging effect of impacting meteoric smoke particles may have been observed in rocket experiments during winter conditions (Amyx et al, 2008). On grid 2 of EDD the secondary production can only take place on one of the side edges of the square wire profiles (Fig.…”

Section: Secondary Charge Production In the Nlc/pmse And Pmse Layermentioning

confidence: 91%

Mesospheric dust and its secondary effects as observed by the ESPRIT payload

Havnes

Surdal²,

Philbrick

2009

Ann. Geophys.

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Abstract. The dust detector on the ESPRIT rocket detected two extended dust/aerosol layers during the launch on 1 July 2006. The lower layer at height ∼81.5-83 km coincided with a strong NLC and PMSE layer. The maximum dust charge density was ∼−3.5×10 9 e m −3 and the dust layer was characterized by a few strong dust layers where the dust charge density at the upper edges changed by factors 2-3 over a distance of 10 m, while the same change at their lower edges were much more gradual. The upper edge of this layer is also sharp, with a change in the probe current from zero to I DC =−10 −11 A over ∼10 m, while the same change at the low edge occurs over ∼500 m. The second dust layer at ∼85-92 km was in the height range of a comparatively weak PMSE layer and the maximum dust charge density was ∼−10 8 e m −3 . This demonstrates that PMSE can be formed even if the ratio of the dust charge density to the electron density P =N d Z d /n e 0.01.In spite of the dust detector being constructed to reduce possible secondary charging effects from dust impacts, it was found that they were clearly present during the passage through both layers. The measured secondary charging effects confirm recent results that dust in the NLC and PMSE layers can be very effective in producing secondary charges with up to ∼50 to 100 electron charges being rubbed off by one impacting large dust particle, if the impact angle is θ i 20-35 • . This again lends support to the suggested model for NLC and PMSE dust particles (Havnes and Naesheim, 2007) as a loosely bound water-ice clump interspersed with a considerable number of sub-nanometer-sized meteoric smoke particles, possibly also contaminated with meteoric atomic species.

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“…Among these are the nucleation of mesospheric ice particles (e.g., Rapp and Thomas, 2006), the mesospheric metal chemistry , the D-region charge balance (e.g., Rapp and Lübken, 2001), the heterogeneous formation of water vapour in the mesosphere (Summers et al, 2001), and even the nucleation of polar stratospheric cloud particles which play a major role in the formation of the ozone hole (e.g., Voigt et al, 2005). While some progress regarding the experimental investigation of these atmospheric trace species has been made over the past years with sounding rockets (e.g., Schulte and Arnold, 1992;Gelinas et al, 1998;Horányi et al, 2000;Rapp et al, 2005;Lynch et al, 2005;Barjatya and Swenson, 2006;Amyx et al, 2008;Strelnikova et al, 2009;Rapp et al, 2010), incoherent scatter radars Strelnikova et al, 2007;Fentzke et al, 2009), satellites (Hervig et al, 2009(Hervig et al, , 2012, and laboratory studies (Saunders and Plane, 2006), much of our knowledge about these particles still relies on model results (e.g., Hunten et al, 1980;Gabrielli et al, 2004;Megner et al, 2006Megner et al, , 2008Bardeen et al, 2008). Among other things, very little is still known about the physical and chemical properties of MSPs such as their composition and their electrical and optical properties.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

In situ observations of meteor smoke particles (MSP) during the Geminids 2010: constraints on MSP size, work function and composition

et al. 2012

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Abstract. We present in situ observations of meteoric smoke particles (MSP) obtained during three sounding rocket flights in December 2010 in the frame of the final campaign of the Norwegian-German ECOMA project (ECOMA = Existence and Charge state Of meteoric smoke particles in the Middle Atmosphere). The flights were conducted before, at the maximum activity, and after the decline of the Geminids which is one of the major meteor showers over the year. Measurements with the ECOMA particle detector yield both profiles of naturally charged particles (Faraday cup measurement) as well as profiles of photoelectrons emitted by the MSPs due to their irradiation by photons of a xenon-flash lamp. The column density of negatively charged MSPs decreased steadily from flight to flight which is in agreement with a corresponding decrease of the sporadic meteor flux recorded during the same period. This implies that the sporadic meteors are a major source of MSPs while the additional influx due to the shower meteors apparently did not play any significant role. Surprisingly, the profiles of photoelectrons are only partly compatible with this observation: while the photoelectron current profiles obtained during the first and third flight of the campaign showed a qualitatively similar behaviour as the MSP charge density data, the profile from the second flight (i.e., at the peak of the Geminids) shows much smaller photoelectron currents. This may tentatively be interpreted as a different MSP composition (and, hence, different photoelectric properties) during this second flight, but at this stage we are not in a position to conclude that there is a cause and effect relation between the Geminids and this observation. Finally, the ECOMA particle detector used during the first and third flight employed three instead of only one xenon flash lamp where each of the three lamps used for one flight had a different window material resulting in different cut off wavelengths for these three lamp types. Taking into account these data along with simple model estimates as well as rigorous quantum chemical calculations, it is argued that constraints on MSP sizes, work function and composition can be inferred. Comparing the measured data to a simple model of the photoelectron currents, we tentatively conclude that we observed MSPs in the 0.5-3 nm size range with generally increasing particle size with decreasing altitude. Notably, this size information can be obtained because different MSP particle sizes are expected to result in different work functions which is both supported by simple classical arguments as well as quantum chemical calculations. clusters, rather than metal silicates, are the major constituents of the smoke particles.

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In-situ measurement of smoke particles in the wintertime polar mesosphere between 80 and 85km altitude

Cited by 40 publications

References 49 publications

Chemical analysis of refractory stratospheric aerosol particles collected within the arctic vortex and inside polar stratospheric clouds

Chemical analysis of refractory stratospheric aerosol particles collected within the arctic vortex and inside polar stratospheric clouds

Mesospheric dust and its secondary effects as observed by the ESPRIT payload

In situ observations of meteor smoke particles (MSP) during the Geminids 2010: constraints on MSP size, work function and composition

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