Characteristics of Fe ablation trails observed during the 1998 Leonid meteor shower

Xinzhao Chu; Weilin Pan; George Papen; Chester S. Gardner; Gary Swenson; Peter Jenniskens

doi:10.1029/1999GL010756

Characteristics of Fe ablation trails observed during the 1998 Leonid meteor shower

Xinzhao Chu, Weilin Pan, George Papen, Chester S. Gardner, Gary Swenson, Peter Jenniskens

Electrical and Computer Engineering

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Abstract

Eighteen Fe ablation trails were observed during the 17/18 Nov 1998 Leonid meteor shower with an air-borne Fe lidar aboard the NSF/NCAR Electra aircraft over Okinawa. The average altitude of the 18 trails from the high velocity (72 km/s) Leonid meteors, 95.67 ± 0.93 km, is approximately 6.7 km higher than previously observed for slower (~30 km/s) sporadic meteors. This height difference is consistent with the assumption that meteors ablate when atmospheric drag reaches a critical threshold. The average age of the Fe trails, determined by a diffusion model, is 10.1 min. The youngest ages were observed below 92 km and above 98 km where chemistry and diffusion dominate, respectively. The average abundance of the trails is 10% of the abundance of the background Fe layer. Observations suggest that the 1998 Leonid shower did not have a significant impact on the abundance of the background Fe layer.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	1807-1810
Number of pages	4
Journal	Geophysical Research Letters
Volume	27
Issue number	13
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1029/1999GL010756
State	Published - Jul 1 2000

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Geophysics
General Earth and Planetary Sciences

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10.1029/1999GL010756

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title = "Characteristics of Fe ablation trails observed during the 1998 Leonid meteor shower",

abstract = "Eighteen Fe ablation trails were observed during the 17/18 Nov 1998 Leonid meteor shower with an air-borne Fe lidar aboard the NSF/NCAR Electra aircraft over Okinawa. The average altitude of the 18 trails from the high velocity (72 km/s) Leonid meteors, 95.67 ± 0.93 km, is approximately 6.7 km higher than previously observed for slower (~30 km/s) sporadic meteors. This height difference is consistent with the assumption that meteors ablate when atmospheric drag reaches a critical threshold. The average age of the Fe trails, determined by a diffusion model, is 10.1 min. The youngest ages were observed below 92 km and above 98 km where chemistry and diffusion dominate, respectively. The average abundance of the trails is 10% of the abundance of the background Fe layer. Observations suggest that the 1998 Leonid shower did not have a significant impact on the abundance of the background Fe layer.",

author = "Xinzhao Chu and Weilin Pan and George Papen and Gardner, {Chester S.} and Gary Swenson and Peter Jenniskens",

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T1 - Characteristics of Fe ablation trails observed during the 1998 Leonid meteor shower

AU - Chu, Xinzhao

AU - Pan, Weilin

AU - Papen, George

AU - Gardner, Chester S.

AU - Swenson, Gary

AU - Jenniskens, Peter

PY - 2000/7/1

Y1 - 2000/7/1

N2 - Eighteen Fe ablation trails were observed during the 17/18 Nov 1998 Leonid meteor shower with an air-borne Fe lidar aboard the NSF/NCAR Electra aircraft over Okinawa. The average altitude of the 18 trails from the high velocity (72 km/s) Leonid meteors, 95.67 ± 0.93 km, is approximately 6.7 km higher than previously observed for slower (~30 km/s) sporadic meteors. This height difference is consistent with the assumption that meteors ablate when atmospheric drag reaches a critical threshold. The average age of the Fe trails, determined by a diffusion model, is 10.1 min. The youngest ages were observed below 92 km and above 98 km where chemistry and diffusion dominate, respectively. The average abundance of the trails is 10% of the abundance of the background Fe layer. Observations suggest that the 1998 Leonid shower did not have a significant impact on the abundance of the background Fe layer.

AB - Eighteen Fe ablation trails were observed during the 17/18 Nov 1998 Leonid meteor shower with an air-borne Fe lidar aboard the NSF/NCAR Electra aircraft over Okinawa. The average altitude of the 18 trails from the high velocity (72 km/s) Leonid meteors, 95.67 ± 0.93 km, is approximately 6.7 km higher than previously observed for slower (~30 km/s) sporadic meteors. This height difference is consistent with the assumption that meteors ablate when atmospheric drag reaches a critical threshold. The average age of the Fe trails, determined by a diffusion model, is 10.1 min. The youngest ages were observed below 92 km and above 98 km where chemistry and diffusion dominate, respectively. The average abundance of the trails is 10% of the abundance of the background Fe layer. Observations suggest that the 1998 Leonid shower did not have a significant impact on the abundance of the background Fe layer.

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Characteristics of Fe ablation trails observed during the 1998 Leonid meteor shower

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