Type: Journal Article
Venue: GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
Citation:
Pellinen-Wannberg, A., E. Murad, B. Gustavsson, U. Brändström, C.-F. Enell, C. Roth, I. P. Williams, and Å. Steen (2004), Optical observations of water in Leonid meteor trails, Geophys. Res. Lett., 31, L03812, doi:10.1029/2003GL018785.
Resource Link: http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2004/2003GL018785.shtml
Two simultaneous filtered images (589 and 423 nm) of a meteor trail were recorded during the 2002 Leonid storm. The first image shows Na atoms and the second Ca and Fe atoms and signals at altitudes much higher than can give rise to ablation of metals, in agreement with other observations of high altitude visible trails [ Spurný et al., 2000a ; Spurný et al., 2000b ]. Ablation models [ McNeil et al., 1998 ] and analysis of the history of the 2002 Leonid meteoroids [ McNaught and Asher, 1999 ] support the conclusion that the high altitude emissions are due to H2O+ and Hα,β,γ formed through the decomposition in the hyperthermal collision between H2O from meteoroid ice [ Kresák, 1973 ] and atmospheric N2 [ Dressler et al., 1992 ].
In 2005 AER acquired Radex, Inc., and Radex research by C. Roth is intellectual property of AER.