Theory and simulations of field-aligned irregularities in meteor trails

Mathematics

Scientific paper

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Meteor Trails, Simulations, Irregularities

Scientific paper

Meteor trails created by the ablation of micrometeoroids between 70 and 130 km altitude in the atmosphere create columns of plasma often with densities that exceed the ambient ionospheric plasma density by orders of magnitude. Density gradients at the edges of these trails can create ambipolar electric fields with amplitudes in excess of hundreds of mV/m. These fields, in turn, drive Farley-Buneman and gradient-drift (FBGD) instabilities which create field-aligned plasma density irregularities detectable by large aperture radars. This paper presents a new theory of meteor trails instabilities and compares this theory with simulations, observations, and related theories. In particular, this paper discusses the origin of the driving electric field, the resulting electron drifts, and the mechanism and mathematics necessary to describe the linear, fluid, instabilities. Finally, this paper shows that linear theory predicts a limited range of altitudes over which one expects instabilities and, therefore, non-specular radar observations of meteor trails.

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