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| Titel |
Meteor velocity determination with plasma physics |
| VerfasserIn |
L. P. Dyrud, K. Denney, S. Close, M. Oppenheim, J. Chau, L. Ray |
| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| ISSN |
1680-7316
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| Digitales Dokument |
URL |
| Erschienen |
In: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics ; 4, no. 3 ; Nr. 4, no. 3 (2004-06-03), S.817-824 |
| Datensatznummer |
250001720
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 copernicus.org/acp-4-817-2004.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| Understanding the global meteor flux at Earth requires the
measurement of meteor velocities. While several radar methods
exist for measuring meteor velocity, they may be biased by plasma
reflection mechanisms. This paper presents a new method for
deriving meteoroid velocity from the altitudinal extent of
non-specular trails. This method employs our recent discoveries on
meteor trail plasma instability. Dyrud et al. (2002)
demonstrated that meteor trails are unstable over a limited
altitude range, and that the precise altitudes of instability are
dependent on the meteoroid that generated the trail. Since meteor
trail instability results in field aligned irregularities (FAI)
that allow for radar reflection, non-specular trail observations
may be used to derive velocity. We use ALTAIR radar data of
combined head echos and non-specular trails to test non-specular
trail derived velocity against head echo velocities. Meteor
velocities derived from non-specular trail altitudinal width match
to within 5 km/s when compared with head echo range rates from the
same meteor. We apply this technique to Piura radar observations
of hundreds of non-specular trails to produce histograms of
occurrence of meteor velocity based solely on this non-specular
trails width criterion. The results from this study show that the
most probable velocity of meteors seen by the Piura radar is near
50 km/s, which is comparable with modern head echo studies. |
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