Open AccessVertical transport of anthropogenic soot aerosol into the middle atmosphere
Author(s) -
Pueschel R. F.,
Verma S.,
Rohatschek H.,
Ferry G. V.,
Boiadjieva N.,
Howard S. D.,
Strawa A. W.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: atmospheres
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.67
H-Index - 298
eISSN - 2156-2202
pISSN - 0148-0227
DOI - 10.1029/1999jd900505
Subject(s) - aerosol , atmospheric sciences , mesosphere , soot , mesopause , altitude (triangle) , environmental science , atmosphere (unit) , polar , thermal , physics , meteorology , stratosphere , combustion , chemistry , astronomy , geometry , mathematics , organic chemistry
Gravito‐photophoresis, a sunlight‐induced force acting on particles which are geometrically asymmetric and which have uneven surface distribution of thermal accommodation coefficients, explains vertical transport of fractal soot aerosol emitted by aircraft in conventional flight corridors (10–12 km altitude) into the mesosphere (>80 km altitude). While direct optical effects of this aerosol appear nonsignificant, it is conceivable that they play a role in mesospheric physics by providing nuclei for polar mesospheric cloud formation and by affecting the ionization of the mesosphere to contribute to polar mesospheric summer echoes.