Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-zzh7m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T01:35:25.430Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Dusty plasma processes in Earth's polar summer mesosphere

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 February 2013

S. I. POPEL
Affiliation:
Institute for Dynamics of Geospheres of RAS, Moscow 119334, Russia (popel@idg.chph.ras.ru)
A. Yu. DUBINSKY
Affiliation:
Institute for Dynamics of Geospheres of RAS, Moscow 119334, Russia (popel@idg.chph.ras.ru)

Abstract

A self-consistent model for the description of dusty plasma structures, such as noctilucent clouds (NLC) and polar mesosphere summer echoes (PMSE), which are frequently grouped together under the common term polar mesospheric clouds, is presented. The model takes into account the processes of condensation of water vapor, ionization, recombination, action of solar radiation, sedimentation, dust particle growth, dust particle charging, electric fields, etc. Using the model, we explain the basic data of observations on the behavior of charged component in polar summer mesosphere. Furthermore, we show the influence of initial distributions of fine particles as well as that of the processes of condensation and water molecule absorption by fine particles on the formation of NLC and PMSE. We also illustrate the possibility of the formation of layered structure and sharp boundaries of NLC.

Type
Papers
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Amyx, K., Sternovsky, Z., Knappmiller, S., Robertson, S., Horanyi, M. and Gumbel, J. 2008 In-situ measurement of smoke particles in the wintertime polar mesosphere between 80 and 85 km altitude. J. Atmos. Solar-Terr. Phys. 70, 6170.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dubinskii, A. Yu. and Popel, S. I. 2012 Formation and evolution of dusty plasma structures in the ionosphere. JETP Lett. 96, 2126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klumov, B. A., Morfill, G. E. and Popel, S. I. 2005 Formation of structures in a dusty ionosphere. J. Experim. Theor. Phys. 100, 152164.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klumov, B. A., Popel, S. I. and Bingham, R. 2000 Dust particle charging and formation of dust structures in the upper atmosphere. JETP Lett. 72, 364368.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Landau, L. D. and Lifshitz, E. M. 1980 Statistical Physics. Part 1. Waltham, MA: Butterworth–Heinemann.Google Scholar
Lapshin, V. B., Yablokov, M. Yu. and Palei, A. A. 2002 Vapor pressure over a charged drop. Rus. J. Phys. Chem. 76, 17271729.Google Scholar
Murray, B. J. and Plane, J. M. C. 2005 Modelling the impact of noctilucent cloud formation on atomic oxygen and other minor constituents of the summer mesosphere. Atmos. Chem. Phys. 5, 10271038.CrossRefGoogle Scholar