Measurement report: Rocket-borne measurements of large ions in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere – detection of meteor smoke particles

• Published in: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
• Main Authors: Stude, Joan, Aufmhoff, Heinfried, Schlager, Hans, Rapp, Markus, Baumann, Carsten, Arnold, Frank, Strelnikov, Boris
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2025
• Subjects: Andøya; Norway
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-383-2025; https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/25/383/2025/

We present mass spectroscopic in situ data from rocket flights of two improved ion mass spectrometers in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere region. The instruments were optimized to detect large ions with a mass-to-charge ratio ( m / z <svg:svg xmlns:svg="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="23pt" height="14pt" class="svg-formula" dspmath="mathimg" md5hash="91270dba487782af7360c80516416e4b"><svg:image xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="acp-25-383-2025-ie00001.svg" width="23pt" height="14pt" src="acp-25-383-2025-ie00001.png"/> </svg:svg> , mass) of up to m / z <svg:svg xmlns:svg="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="23pt" height="14pt" class="svg-formula" dspmath="mathimg" md5hash="63c7f3946b001d4e8415de9c4a1834dd"><svg:image xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="acp-25-383-2025-ie00002.svg" width="23pt" height="14pt" src="acp-25-383-2025-ie00002.png"/> </svg:svg> 2000 and 20 000 respectively, for analysis of meteor smoke particles. The flights were performed in the framework of the polar mesospheric winter echo (PMWE) campaigns, initiated and coordinated by the Leibniz Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP), to investigate polar mesospheric winter radar echoes in Andøya (Norway) in 2018 and 2021. Both flights were successful and allowed the mass number and chemical composition of charged meteor smoke particles to be investigated. We found a complex and diverse composition of positively and negatively charged molecules and particles within our mass range in a region that is notoriously difficult to get mass spectroscopic data from. While at altitudes below 85 km we observed negatively charged particles of up to several thousands of atomic mass units, above this altitude we found possible building blocks of these large particles that form right after their ablation from the parent meteorite material. In the first flight we detected no positively charged particles above m / z <svg:svg xmlns:svg="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="23pt" ...