Premium
Characteristics of Fe ablation trails observed during the 1998 Leonid Meteor Shower
Author(s) -
Chu Xinzhao,
Pan Weilin,
Papen George,
Gardner Chester S.,
Swenson Gary,
Jenniskens Peter
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/1999gl010756
Subject(s) - meteoroid , meteor (satellite) , meteor shower , altitude (triangle) , abundance (ecology) , atmospheric sciences , environmental science , physics , geology , astrobiology , astronomy , geometry , mathematics , fishery , biology
Eighteen Fe ablation trails were observed during the 17/18 Nov 1998 Leonid meteor shower with an airborne 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.