HR: 1340h
AN: SA13A-0229    [Abstracts]
TI: Kelvin-Helmholtz Dust Modes in the Mesosphere / Lower Thermosphere
AU: Lazerson, S
EM: hew@gi.alaska.edu
AF: Geophysical Institute University of Alaska Fairbanks, 903 Koyukuk Drive, Fairbanks, AK 99775 United States
AU: * Wiechen, H M
EM: hew@gi.alaska.edu
AF: Geophysical Institute University of Alaska Fairbanks, 903 Koyukuk Drive, Fairbanks, AK 99775 United States
AB: A wide variety of phenomena in the Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere (MLT) are consequences of charged dust (e.g. variabilities in the Airglow, Noctilucent Clouds). Observations show evidence that these phenomena should be studied in the framework of a weakly ionized dusty plasma environment. One typical feature in the Airglow are ripple-like structures. These are interpreted as the result of Kelvin-Helmholtz modes. In addition, vertical structures are observed which are interpreted as secondary instabilities. Corresponding studies done so far are based on hydrodynamical simulations. The presence of magnetic fields, charged particles and charged dust has been neglected. We approach this problem by the help of multi-fluid dusty plasma simulations and study 3-dimensional Kelvin-Helmholtz dust modes. Taking into account parameter regimes being typical for the MLT our results are in good qualitative and quantitative agreement with observations.
DE: 0305 Aerosols and particles (0345, 4801, 4906)
DE: 0310 Airglow and aurora
SC: SPA-Aeronomy [SA]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005