Radar observations of Draconid outbursts

Abstract

The Draconid meteor shower shows strong bursts of activity at irregular intervals, with nearly no activity in intervening years. Five outbursts of the Draconid meteor shower were observed with specular meteor radars in Canada and Europe between 1999 and 2018. The outbursts generally lasted between 6 and 8 hours, and most were not fully visible at a single geographical site, emphasizing the need for observations at multiple longitudes for short-duration shower outbursts. There is at least a factor of two difference in the peak flux as measured on different radars; the initial trail radius effect is undercorrected for Draconid meteors, which are known to be fragile.

The Spectrum and Orbit of a Fireball Producing Mesospheric Irregularity and Implications for Meteor Mass Deposition

“…During the ablation process, a high plasma density column, i.e., meteor plasma trail can be created and reflect/backscatter radio waves. The specular meteor echoes, which are detected when a radar beam is perpendicular to meteor plasma trail, have been widely employed in the study of meteor showers and their parent bodies (e.g., Jones et al 2005;Ye et al 2013;Younger et al 2015;Ye et al 2016;Janches et al 2020;Campbell-Brown et al 2021;. As the dense plasma of meteor trail diffuses, ambipolar electric fields form under the influence of the geomagnetic field.…”