MEASURING THE CHARGE AND SIZE DISTRIBUTION OF CHARGED AEROSOL PARTICLES INSIDE PMSE AND NLC

摘要

During the MIDAS/MacWAVE 2002 rocket campaign, charged aerosol probes launched aboard MIDAS payloads detected positively and negatively charged aerosol particles. Two aerosol probes were used on each MIDAS payload. One probe was a collection surface shielded by a magnetic field that prevented electron collection, allowing unambiguous identification of negative aerosol particles. The other probe was a collection surface shielded by both a magnetic field and an electric field that suppressed positive ion collection, and thus allowed unambiguous identification of positive aerosol particles. During the first salvo of the campaign, there was both a noctilucent cloud (NLC) and polar mesospheric summer echo (PMSE) present above the launch site. The probes measured a distribution of charged aerosol particles in-situ: both small and large negative particles centered at the NLC altitude, and a layer of small positive aerosols across the lower half of the PMSE.