Large mesospheric ice particles at exceptionally high altitudes
We here report on the characteristics of exceptionally high Noctilucent clouds (NLC) that were detected with rocket photometers during the ECOMA/MASS campaign at Andøya, Norway 2007. The results from three separate flights are shown and discussed in connection to lidar measurements. Both the lidar m...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:dd0169aaee6f4f6e9d4b8fca07acd4ab 2023-05-15T13:25:40+02:00 Large mesospheric ice particles at exceptionally high altitudes L. Megner M. Khaplanov G. Baumgarten J. Gumbel J. Stegman B. Strelnikov S. Robertson 2009-03-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-27-943-2009 https://doaj.org/article/dd0169aaee6f4f6e9d4b8fca07acd4ab EN eng Copernicus Publications https://www.ann-geophys.net/27/943/2009/angeo-27-943-2009.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/0992-7689 https://doaj.org/toc/1432-0576 doi:10.5194/angeo-27-943-2009 0992-7689 1432-0576 https://doaj.org/article/dd0169aaee6f4f6e9d4b8fca07acd4ab Annales Geophysicae, Vol 27, Pp 943-951 (2009) Science Q Physics QC1-999 Geophysics. Cosmic physics QC801-809 article 2009 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-27-943-2009 2022-12-30T23:36:34Z We here report on the characteristics of exceptionally high Noctilucent clouds (NLC) that were detected with rocket photometers during the ECOMA/MASS campaign at Andøya, Norway 2007. The results from three separate flights are shown and discussed in connection to lidar measurements. Both the lidar measurements and the large difference between various rocket passages through the NLC show that the cloud layer was inhomogeneous on large scales. Two passages showed a particularly high, bright and vertically extended cloud, reaching to approximately 88 km. Long time series of lidar measurements show that NLC this high are very rare, only one NLC measurement out of thousand reaches above 87 km. The NLC is found to consist of three distinct layers. All three were bright enough to allow for particle size retrieval by phase function analysis, even though the lowest layer proved too horizontally inhomogeneous to obtain a trustworthy result. Large particles, corresponding to an effective radius of 50 nm, were observed both in the middle and top of the NLC. The present cloud does not comply with the conventional picture that NLC ice particles nucleate near the temperature minimum and grow to larger sizes as they sediment to lower altitudes. Strong up-welling, likely caused by gravity wave activity, is required to explain its characteristics. Article in Journal/Newspaper Andøya Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Andøya ENVELOPE(13.982,13.982,68.185,68.185) Norway Annales Geophysicae 27 3 943 951 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Science Q Physics QC1-999 Geophysics. Cosmic physics QC801-809 |
spellingShingle |
Science Q Physics QC1-999 Geophysics. Cosmic physics QC801-809 L. Megner M. Khaplanov G. Baumgarten J. Gumbel J. Stegman B. Strelnikov S. Robertson Large mesospheric ice particles at exceptionally high altitudes |
topic_facet |
Science Q Physics QC1-999 Geophysics. Cosmic physics QC801-809 |
description |
We here report on the characteristics of exceptionally high Noctilucent clouds (NLC) that were detected with rocket photometers during the ECOMA/MASS campaign at Andøya, Norway 2007. The results from three separate flights are shown and discussed in connection to lidar measurements. Both the lidar measurements and the large difference between various rocket passages through the NLC show that the cloud layer was inhomogeneous on large scales. Two passages showed a particularly high, bright and vertically extended cloud, reaching to approximately 88 km. Long time series of lidar measurements show that NLC this high are very rare, only one NLC measurement out of thousand reaches above 87 km. The NLC is found to consist of three distinct layers. All three were bright enough to allow for particle size retrieval by phase function analysis, even though the lowest layer proved too horizontally inhomogeneous to obtain a trustworthy result. Large particles, corresponding to an effective radius of 50 nm, were observed both in the middle and top of the NLC. The present cloud does not comply with the conventional picture that NLC ice particles nucleate near the temperature minimum and grow to larger sizes as they sediment to lower altitudes. Strong up-welling, likely caused by gravity wave activity, is required to explain its characteristics. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
L. Megner M. Khaplanov G. Baumgarten J. Gumbel J. Stegman B. Strelnikov S. Robertson |
author_facet |
L. Megner M. Khaplanov G. Baumgarten J. Gumbel J. Stegman B. Strelnikov S. Robertson |
author_sort |
L. Megner |
title |
Large mesospheric ice particles at exceptionally high altitudes |
title_short |
Large mesospheric ice particles at exceptionally high altitudes |
title_full |
Large mesospheric ice particles at exceptionally high altitudes |
title_fullStr |
Large mesospheric ice particles at exceptionally high altitudes |
title_full_unstemmed |
Large mesospheric ice particles at exceptionally high altitudes |
title_sort |
large mesospheric ice particles at exceptionally high altitudes |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2009 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-27-943-2009 https://doaj.org/article/dd0169aaee6f4f6e9d4b8fca07acd4ab |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(13.982,13.982,68.185,68.185) |
geographic |
Andøya Norway |
geographic_facet |
Andøya Norway |
genre |
Andøya |
genre_facet |
Andøya |
op_source |
Annales Geophysicae, Vol 27, Pp 943-951 (2009) |
op_relation |
https://www.ann-geophys.net/27/943/2009/angeo-27-943-2009.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/0992-7689 https://doaj.org/toc/1432-0576 doi:10.5194/angeo-27-943-2009 0992-7689 1432-0576 https://doaj.org/article/dd0169aaee6f4f6e9d4b8fca07acd4ab |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-27-943-2009 |
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Annales Geophysicae |
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27 |
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3 |
container_start_page |
943 |
op_container_end_page |
951 |
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