Articles | Volume 18, issue 20
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-14799-2018
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-14799-2018
Research article
 | 
16 Oct 2018
Research article |  | 16 Oct 2018

A new model of meteoric calcium in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere

John M. C. Plane, Wuhu Feng, Juan Carlos Gómez Martín, Michael Gerding, and Shikha Raizada

Related authors

Effects of nonmigrating diurnal tides on the Na layer in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere
Jianfei Wu, Wuhu Feng, Xianghui Xue, Daniel Robert Marsh, and John Maurice Campbell Plane
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 12133–12141, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12133-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12133-2024, 2024
Short summary
Structure, variability, and origin of the low-latitude nightglow continuum between 300 and 1800 nm: evidence for HO2 emission in the near-infrared
Stefan Noll, John M. C. Plane, Wuhu Feng, Konstantinos S. Kalogerakis, Wolfgang Kausch, Carsten Schmidt, Michael Bittner, and Stefan Kimeswenger
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 1143–1176, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1143-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1143-2024, 2024
Short summary
Opinion: Recent developments and future directions in studying the mesosphere and lower thermosphere
John M. C. Plane, Jörg Gumbel, Konstantinos S. Kalogerakis, Daniel R. Marsh, and Christian von Savigny
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 13255–13282, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-13255-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-13255-2023, 2023
Short summary
Particle shapes and infrared extinction spectra of nitric acid dihydrate (NAD) crystals: optical constants of the β-NAD modification
Robert Wagner, Alexander D. James, Victoria L. Frankland, Ottmar Möhler, Benjamin J. Murray, John M. C. Plane, Harald Saathoff, Ralf Weigel, and Martin Schnaiter
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 6789–6811, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-6789-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-6789-2023, 2023
Short summary
The importance of acid-processed meteoric smoke relative to meteoric fragments for crystal nucleation in polar stratospheric clouds
Alexander D. James, Finn Pace, Sebastien N. F. Sikora, Graham W. Mann, John M. C. Plane, and Benjamin J. Murray
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 2215–2233, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2215-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2215-2023, 2023
Short summary

Related subject area

Subject: Gases | Research Activity: Atmospheric Modelling and Data Analysis | Altitude Range: Mesosphere | Science Focus: Chemistry (chemical composition and reactions)
Technical note: Nighttime OH and HO2 chemical equilibria in the mesosphere–lower thermosphere
Mikhail Yu. Kulikov, Mikhail V. Belikovich, Aleksey G. Chubarov, Svetlana O. Dementyeva, and Alexander M. Feigin
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 10965–10983, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10965-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10965-2024, 2024
Short summary
Global and regional chemical influence of sprites: reconciling modelling results and measurements
Francisco J. Pérez-Invernón, Francisco J. Gordillo-Vázquez, Alejandro Malagón-Romero, and Patrick Jöckel
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 3577–3592, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3577-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3577-2024, 2024
Short summary
Boundary of nighttime ozone chemical equilibrium in the mesopause region: long-term evolution determined using 20-year satellite observations
Mikhail Yu. Kulikov, Mikhail V. Belikovich, Aleksey G. Chubarov, Svetlana O. Dementyeva, and Alexander M. Feigin
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 14593–14608, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14593-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14593-2023, 2023
Short summary
Reaction dynamics of P(4S) + O2(X3Σg)  →  O(3P) + PO(X2Π) on a global CHIPR potential energy surface of PO2(X2A1): implications for atmospheric modelling
Guangan Chen, Zhi Qin, Ximing Li, and Linhua Liu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 10643–10659, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10643-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10643-2023, 2023
Short summary
Exceptional middle latitude electron precipitation detected by balloon observations: implications for atmospheric composition
Irina Mironova, Miriam Sinnhuber, Galina Bazilevskaya, Mark Clilverd, Bernd Funke, Vladimir Makhmutov, Eugene Rozanov, Michelle L. Santee, Timofei Sukhodolov, and Thomas Ulich
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 6703–6716, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-6703-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-6703-2022, 2022
Short summary

Cited articles

Ahmad, I., Baig, M. A., and Hormes, J.: Measurement of oscillator-strengths of the principal series of calcium, Phys. Rev. A, 49, 3419–3425, https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.49.3419, 1994. 
Alpers, M., Höffner, J., and von Zahn, U.: Upper Atmosphere Ca and Ca+ at Mid-Latitudes: First Simultaneous and Common-Volume Lidar Observations, Geophys. Res. Lett., 23, 567–570, https://doi.org/10.1029/96GL00372, 1996. 
Bones, D. L., Gerding, M., Höffner, J., Gómez-Martín, J. C., and Plane, J. M. C.: A study of the dissociative recombination of CaO+ with electrons: Implications for Ca chemistry in the upper atmosphere, Geophys. Res. Lett., 43, 12333–12339, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL071755, 2016a. 
Bones, D. L., Gómez-Martín, J. C., Empson, C. J., Carrillo-Sánchez, J. D., James, A. D., Conroy, T. P., and Plane, J. M. C.: A novel instrument to measure differential ablation of meteorite samples and proxies: The Meteoric Ablation Simulator (MASI), Rev. Sci. Instr., 87, 094504, https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4962751, 2016b. 
Broadley, S. L. and Plane, J. M. C.: A kinetic study of reactions of calcium-containing molecules with O and H atoms: implications for calcium chemistry in the upper atmosphere, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys, 12, 9095–9107, https://doi.org/10.1039/c004451b, 2010. 
Download
Short summary
Meteoric ablation creates layers of metal atoms in the atmosphere around 90 km. Although Ca and Na have similar elemental abundances in most minerals found in the solar system, surprisingly the Ca abundance in the atmosphere is less than 1 % that of Na. This study uses a detailed chemistry model of Ca, largely based on laboratory kinetics measurements, in a whole-atmosphere model to show that the depletion is caused by inefficient ablation of Ca and the formation of stable molecular reservoirs.
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint