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Scattering phase functions and particle sizes in noctilucent clouds
Author(s) -
Gumbel J.,
Stegman J.,
Murtagh D. P.,
Witt G.
Publication year - 2001
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 - 10.1029/2000gl012414
Subject(s) - mesopause , sounding rocket , mesosphere , scattering , rocket (weapon) , physics , photometer , meteor (satellite) , radar , particle (ecology) , incoherent scatter , atmospheric sciences , computational physics , depth sounding , phase (matter) , polar , mie scattering , remote sensing , light scattering , optics , stratosphere , meteorology , astronomy , geology , aerospace engineering , oceanography , quantum mechanics , engineering
The MIDAS‐DROPPS campaign conducted in Norway in 1999 provided a comprehensive study of the high‐latitude summer mesopause region with rocket‐borne and ground‐based instrumentation. Optical photometers were flown on two rocket payloads through substantially different mesospheric conditions. On both flights, distinct noctilucent cloud (NLC) layers were detected. We present the first analysis of NLC scattering phase functions observed from sounding rockets. Applying Mie calculations, the angular dependence of the scattering is used to extract information about particle sizes. The first flight featured a weak NLC with small particles (r ≤ 20 nm) located below the core of a strong polar mesosphere radar echo (PMSE). The second flight took place in the absence of any detectable PMSE and probed a bright NLC optically dominated by particles in the size range 40–50 nm.