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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 30, NO. 23, 2202, doi:10.1029/2003GL018312, 2003

A new explanation of persistent double meteor trains

M. C. Kelley

School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA


C. Kruschwitz

School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA


J. Drummond

Starfire Optical Range, AFRL/DES, Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, USA


C. Gardner

Electro-Optic Systems Laboratory, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, USA


L. Gelinas

School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA


J. Hecht

Space and Environment Technology Center, The Aerospace Corporation, Los Angeles, California, USA


E. Murad

AFRL/VSBX, Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts, USA


S. Collins

School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA


Abstract

Persistent meteor trains, studied for more than a century, remain somewhat mysterious [ Newton, 1869 ; Trowbridge, 1907 ; Chapman, 1955 ; Hapgood, 1980 ]. The Leonids meteor showers of recent years afforded opportunities to apply new research technologies, including lidars and sophisticated cameras. Here we explore a particularly curious but common feature: double trains. Since the traditional hollow cylinder explanation has been shown to be untenable, we suggest a new explanation, arguing that one train is due to gaseous vapor train emissions behind the meteor while the other is due to heterogeneous chemistry associated with recoagulated dust. In this model the separation is caused by gravitational sedimentation of dust particles, an idea supported by rocket-based observations of recoagulated dust behind a meteor, by rocket-based observations of enhanced sodium emissions in a dust layer, by rocket observations of a dusty trail, and by recent theoretical estimates of chemical reactions on dust.

Received 1 August 2003; accepted 4 November 2003; published 6 December 2003.

Index Terms: 0305 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Aerosols and particles (0345, 4801); 0399 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: General or miscellaneous; 3332 Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics: Mesospheric dynamics.

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Citation: Kelley, M. C., C. Kruschwitz, J. Drummond, C. Gardner, L. Gelinas, J. Hecht, E. Murad, and S. Collins (2003), A new explanation of persistent double meteor trains, Geophys. Res. Lett., 30(23), 2202, doi:10.1029/2003GL018312.