Observational evidence of high-altitude meteor trail from radar interferometer

Abstract

Whether radar meteor echoes occur at high altitudes (above ~130 km) in the Earth's atmosphere is a long-standing question within the meteor radar community. Using observations from the Sanya VHF coherent radar interferometer during 11 July to 10 August 2013, we have found a new class of range-spread high-altitude meteor trail echoes (HAMEs), some of which appeared at ~170 km altitude lasting more than 10 s. A statistical analysis on the local time dependence of the identified HAME events shows a maximum around 00-04 LT. The results imply that there could be much more meteor mass input due to meteoroid sputtering at high altitudes in the Earth's atmosphere than previously thought. Key Points Radar interferometer observation of high-altitude meteor trailA new class of range-spread meteor trail echo at high altitudeNew perspective on the generation of high-altitude trail irregularities