Iron atom densities in the polar mesosphere from lidar observations

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Between March 24 and April 6, 1990, we performed lidar measurements of iron densities above Andøtya, Norway (69° N). In each of the five nights of measurements we observed a regular Fe layer which was confined to the altitude region between 80 and 100 km. Its peak Fe densities occurred at (84.5 ±1) km or approximately 6 km lower than the peak of the sodium layer as observed by us two weeks earlier. The regular Fe layer exhibited column densities of (9 ± 4) ·109 cm−2 and maximum number densities close to 7,000 cm−3. In addition, sporadic Fe layers were observed frequently between 88 and 108 km, one of which reached a maximum number density of 78,000 cm−3 near 97 km altitude. Properties of the Fe layers as observed by us are compared to those observed by Granier et al. [1989] and by Bills and Gardner [1990].
Keywords

This publication has 10 references indexed in Scilit: