A Model of the Atmospheric Metal Deposition by Cosmic Dust Particles

Abstract

We have developed a model of the deposition of meteoric metals in Earth's atmosphere. The model takes as input the total mass influx of material to the Earth and calculates the deposition rate at all altitudes through solution of the drag and subliminal equations in a Monte Carlo-type computation. The diffusion equation is then solved to give steady state concentration of complexes of specific metal species and kinetics are added to calculate the concentration of individual complexes. Concentrating on sodium, we calculate the Na(D) nightglow predicted by the model, and by introduction of seasonal variations in lower tropospheric ozone based on experimental results, we are able to duplicate the seasonal variation of mid-latitude nightglow data. Atmospheric metal deposition, Sodium nightglow, Thermospheric ozone.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Nov 17, 1993
Accession Number
ADA278561

Entities

People

  • W. J. Mcneil

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Altitude
  • Atmospheric Density
  • Chemical Reactions
  • Chemistry
  • Cosmic Dust
  • Diffusion
  • Diffusion Coefficient
  • Equations
  • Latitude
  • Low Altitude
  • Materials
  • Measurement
  • Molecular Weight
  • Seasonal Variations
  • Solar Radiation
  • Steady State
  • Temperature Gradients

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Aerosol Science/Aerosol Physics
  • Computational Modeling and Simulation
  • Space/Atmospheric Physics.