Observational evidence of high-altitude meteor trail from radar interferometer
Li, G., Ning, B., Wan, W., Reid, I. M., Hu, L., Yue, X., … Dolman, B. K. (2014). Observational evidence of high-altitude meteor trail from radar interferometer. Geophysical Research Letters, 41, 6583-6589. doi:10.1002/2014GL061478
Whether radar meteor echoes occur at high altitudes (above ~130 km) in the Earth's atmosphere is a long-standing question within the meteor radar community. Using observations from the Sanya VHF coherent radar interferometer during 11 July to 10 August 2013, we have found a new class of range-spr... Show moreWhether radar meteor echoes occur at high altitudes (above ~130 km) in the Earth's atmosphere is a long-standing question within the meteor radar community. Using observations from the Sanya VHF coherent radar interferometer during 11 July to 10 August 2013, we have found a new class of range-spread high-altitude meteor trail echoes (HAMEs), some of which appeared at ~170 km altitude lasting more than 10 s. A statistical analysis on the local time dependence of the identified HAME events shows a maximum around 00-04 LT. The results imply that there could be much more meteor mass input due to meteoroid sputtering at high altitudes in the Earth's atmosphere than previously thought. Show less
