Carrillo-Sánchez, JD, Plane, JMC, Feng, W et al. (2 more authors) (2015) On the size and velocity distribution of cosmic dust particles entering the atmosphere. Geophysical Research Letters, 42 (15). 6518 - 6525. ISSN 0094-8276
Abstract
The size and velocity distribution of cosmic dust particles entering the Earth's atmosphere is uncertain. Here we show that the relative concentrations of metal atoms in the upper mesosphere, and the surface accretion rate of cosmic spherules, provide sensitive probes of this distribution. Three cosmic dust models are selected as case studies: two are astronomical models, the first constrained by infrared observations of the Zodiacal Dust Cloud and the second by radar observations of meteor head echoes; the third model is based on measurements made with a spaceborne dust detector. For each model, a Monte Carlo sampling method combined with a chemical ablation model is used to predict the ablation rates of Na, K, Fe, Mg, and Ca above 60 km and cosmic spherule production rate. It appears that a significant fraction of the cosmic dust consists of small (<5 µg) and slow (<15 km s−1) particles.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2015, The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Chemistry (Leeds) > Physical Chemistry (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number EU - European Union 291332 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 21 Sep 2015 10:48 |
Last Modified: | 21 Sep 2015 10:48 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2015GL065149 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | American Geophysical Union |
Identification Number: | 10.1002/2015GL065149 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:90073 |