HR: 08:15h
AN: SA21B-02    [Abstracts]
TI: In Situ Sampling of Meteoric Smoke in the Mesosphere
AU: * Waldemarsson, T
EM: twaldemarsson@yahoo.com
AF: Department of Meteorology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, 10691 Sweden
AU: Giovane, F
EM: frank.giovane@nrl.navy.mil
AF: E.O. Hulbert Center for Space Research, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375 United States
AU: Gumbel, J
EM: gumbel@misu.su.se
AF: Department of Meteorology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, 10691 Sweden
AU: Stroud, R M
EM: stroud@nrl.navy.mil
AF: Materials Science and Technology Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375 United States
AU: Hedin, J
EM: jonash@misu.su.se
AF: Department of Meteorology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, 10691 Sweden
AU: Siskind, D
EM: dsiskind@ssd5.nrl.navy.mil
AF: E.O. Hulbert Center for Space Research, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375 United States
AB: The fate of meteoric material in the mesosphere has been a longstanding scientific challenge. Ablated metal compounds undergo complex chemical processes and are thought to ultimately recondense into nanometer-size smoke particles. This meteoric smoke has been suggested as a key player in the mesosphere, but the actual existence of the particles has never been proven. We will present a recently developed instrument, MAGIC (Mesospheric Aerosol - Genesis, Interaction and Composition), designed to sample smoke particles in situ during a rocket flight. The MAGIC instrument has been built at the Naval Research Laboratory with particular emphasis on aerodynamic challenges imposed by the tiny size of the particles. By sampling smoke particles and making them available for laboratory analysis, their existence and properties can be studied. Basic questions concern their number density, size, altitude distribution and composition.

The first flight of the MAGIC instrument took place during a rocket campaign at Esrange, Sweden, in January 2005. In May 2005 the second flight took place in collaboration with the Virginia Polytechnic Institute, with launch at Wallops Island, USA. An overview of the campaigns will be presented.
DE: 0305 Aerosols and particles (0345, 4801, 4906)
DE: 0394 Instruments and techniques
SC: SPA-Aeronomy [SA]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005