Aeronomy of Mesospheric Clouds and Ice Particles
Summary
The aeronomy of mesospheric clouds and ice particles examines the physical and chemical processes that govern the formation, evolution and dissipation of high-altitude ice layers in the upper atmosphere. Situated between roughly 50 and 85 km above the Earth’s surface, the mesosphere is home to noctilucent clouds in polar regions and tenuous ice films elsewhere. Ice particle nucleation is initiated by meteoric smoke particles and other condensation nuclei, while ambient temperature minima and water vapour concentrations determine crystal growth and sublimation rates. Gravity waves and atmospheric tides modulate the vertical and horizontal structure of these clouds, leading to fine-scale layering and variability on timescales from seconds to seasons. Variations in mesospheric ice impact radiative balance, water vapour distribution and ionospheric charging, with implications for climate feedbacks and upper-atmospheric coupling. Advances in satellite, rocket and ground-based techniques have progressively refined our understanding of cloud microphysics, dynamical forcing and global trends over recent decades.
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Aeronomy of Mesospheric Clouds and Ice Particles publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in aeronomy of mesospheric clouds and ice particles across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Mesosphere: The atmospheric layer between approximately 50 and 85 km altitude, characterised by decreasing temperature with height.
Noctilucent cloud (NLC): A polar mesospheric ice cloud visible at twilight, formed near the summer mesopause under extremely low temperatures.
Polar Mesospheric Cloud (PMC): A high-altitude layer of ice particles occurring in polar summer regions at altitudes around 80 km.
Meteoric Smoke Particle (MSP): Nanometre-scale residue from ablated meteoroids that acts as a nucleus for ice nucleation in the mesosphere.
Gravity wave: An atmospheric oscillation driven by buoyancy as a restoring force, which influences cloud structure and dynamics.
References
- Opinion: Recent developments and future directions in studying the mesosphere and lower thermosphere. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (2023).
- The Sensitivity of Polar Mesospheric Clouds to Mesospheric Temperature and Water Vapor. Remote Sensing (2024).
- Quantification of waves in lidar observations of noctilucent clouds at scales from seconds to minutes. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (2013).
- In situ observations of meteor smoke particles (MSP) during the Geminids 2010: constraints on MSP size, work function and composition. Annales Geophysicae (2012).
- Electron loss and meteoric dust in the mesosphere. Annales Geophysicae (2012).
- NLC and the background atmosphere above ALOMAR. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (2011).
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