Photometric and ionization masses of meteors with simultaneous EISCAT UHF radar and intensified video observations

There are significant uncertainties in the calculation of photometric and ionization masses of meteors, particularly those derived from meteor head echoes observed by high power, large aperture radars. Simultaneous observations of meteors with the EISCAT UHF tristatic system and narrow field two‐sta...

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Published inJournal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics Vol. 117; no. A9; pp. A09323 - n/a
Main Authors Campbell-Brown, M. D., Kero, J., Szasz, C., Pellinen-Wannberg, A., Weryk, R. J.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Washington, DC Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.09.2012
American Geophysical Union
Subjects
Astronomy
Atmospheric sciences
Earth sciences
Earth, ocean, space
EISCAT UHF
Exact sciences and technology
intensified video
Ionization
meteor
Meteors
Meteors & meteorites
optical
Planetology
Planets
Radar
Radio
rymdfysik
Space Physics
Narrows
New York
United States
efficiency
Ionization coefficient
Ionization
meteors
Position
probability
Radar observation
North America
uncertainties
radar methods
errors
Simultaneous observation
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Summary:There are significant uncertainties in the calculation of photometric and ionization masses of meteors, particularly those derived from meteor head echoes observed by high power, large aperture radars. Simultaneous observations of meteors with the EISCAT UHF tristatic system and narrow field two‐station intensified video were conducted in October 2007; 11 hours of data produced four useful meteors observed on all three radar receivers and both cameras. The positions and speeds calculated on the two systems generally agree to within the observational uncertainty. The photometric and ionization masses for each meteor were calculated using several values of luminous efficiency and ionization probability from literature, and all of these masses were found to agree to within the estimated error in the methods. More observations are required to select among the various values of ionization coefficient and luminous efficiency. Key Points There is significant uncertainty in the calculation of meteor masses Meteor masses calculated with radar and video methods are useful Reasonable agreement has been found between radar and video meteor masses
Bibliography:istex:773F4ADD59D45FFC373B6DF7F71F5A544AE4AA9C
Tab-delimited Table 1.Tab-delimited Table 2.Tab-delimited Table 3.Tab-delimited Table 4.
ArticleID:2012JA017800
NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Meteoroid Environment Office - No. NNX11AB76A
ark:/67375/WNG-4T2606QD-D
ISSN:0148-0227
2169-9380
2156-2202
2156-2202
2169-9402
DOI:10.1029/2012JA017800