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First simultaneous measurements of Na and K thermospheric layers along with TILs from Arecibo

This work presents the first simultaneous observations of Na and K between 120 and 150 km altitudes along with ionospheric tidal ion layers (TILs) obtained on 30 January 2006 data from Arecibo. The latter displays an average downward phase velocity of ~14.7 ms−1. However, the neutral layers descend...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geophysical research letters 2015-12, Vol.42 (23), p.10,106-10,112
Main Authors: Raizada, Shikha, Brum, C. M., Tepley, C. A., Lautenbach, Jens, Friedman, J. S., Mathews, John D., Djuth, F. T., Kerr, Caitlin
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:This work presents the first simultaneous observations of Na and K between 120 and 150 km altitudes along with ionospheric tidal ion layers (TILs) obtained on 30 January 2006 data from Arecibo. The latter displays an average downward phase velocity of ~14.7 ms−1. However, the neutral layers descend together at a much slower velocity of about ~0.69 ms−1. This indicates that thermospheric atomic metal layers are not necessarily associated with TILs. The ratio of the average Na/K abundances in thermosphere is ~35.5 as compared to 150 in the main layer (80–105 km). The long lifetimes of ions at ~140 km implies that neutral layers cannot result from direct neutralization of metal ions in the TILs. We investigate different mechanisms that can deposit neutral atoms at thermospheric altitudes. Key Points Thermospheric metals are shown to be independent of tidal ion layers Na/K abundance is ~ 4 times smaller in thermosphere compared to mesosphere Thermospheric Na densities are ~40 times larger than K atoms
ISSN:0094-8276
1944-8007
DOI:10.1002/2015GL066714