On the Distribution of Meteoric Smoke Particles above Andøya, Norway, and Estimated Collection During a Summer Rocket Campaign

Abstract

As meteoroids enter the Earth’s atmosphere, the majority will fully evaporate in the altitude region 70–110 km, due to the frictional heating from atmospheric interactions. The evaporated material is thought to re-condense and coagulate into nanometer sized particles called meteoric smoke particles (MSP). These particles are thought to be a central component in the formation of noctilucent clouds and polar mesospheric summer echoes. In an effort to further investigate and prove the existence of MSPs, the University in Tromsø have designed the MEteoric Smoke Sampler (MESS) instrument. MESS will be mounted on the MAXIDUSTY-2 (MXD2) sounding rocket, scheduled to launch from Andøya, Norway (69.3◦N 16◦E) in the summer of 2025. This thesis investigates the expected mesospheric MSP conditions during the possible launch months of the MXD2 rocket. By using the results from a combination of the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM) and the Community Aerosol and Radiation Model (CARMA), we attempt to investigate the monthly and yearly variations in MSP densities for June, July and August. The WACCM/CARMA model is developed by the University of Leeds, and models the global atmospheric transportation of MSPs based on a yearly meteoric source function. Our analysis considers MSP sizes in the range 1–10 nm, as these are the lower limit of sizes expected to be collected by MESS. Additionally, we present an estimate for the amount of collected MSPs with MESS for a sampling area from 80 to 95 km. The results showed that despite the general transportation of MSPs away from the summer pole, the June mesopause appeared to possess the highest mesospheric MSP densities throughout the year. Along with the potential of ice particle layers, this suggests June as a feasible month for the MXD2 rocket campaign. The MSP collection estimates showed a density on the order of 10^7 /cm^2 on the collection surface of MESS. This result does not consider the additional mass collected through mesospheric ice particles.