CaltechAUTHORS
Published January 1998 | Version public
Journal Article Metadata-only

Search for Extraterrestrial Origin of Atmospheric Trace Molecules — Radio Sub-MM Observations during the Leonids

Creators

Abstract

To identify the effect of meteor showers on the molecular content of the upper atmosphere of the Earth, we have carried out ground-based observations of atmospheric HCN. HCN radio observations at CSO (Hawaii) on Nov 18/19, 1999, the night after the second Leonid shower maximum, show unusually low HCN abundances above 45 km altitude, which are only recovered after sunrise. We also investigated UARS/HALOE satellite data on H2_O and O_3. No correlation appears of year round H_2O and O_3 around 55 km with annual meteor showers, nor with meteor activity at the time of the 1998 Leonid shower.

Additional Information

© Kluwer Academic Publishers 1998. (Received: 9 August 2000; Accepted 2 September 2000) We thank referees Steve Charnley and Frans Rietmeijer for helpfull comments. This work was supported by grants from CNRS/INSU (G.D.R. Exobiologie and Action Spécifique" Grands Telescopes Etrangers") and CNES, which also provided financial support to Nicolas Lautié. Didier Despois and Philippe Ricaud thank the CSO for providing excellent working conditions, very valuable technical help, and free accomodation at the telescope. CSO is supported by the National Science Foundation grant AST-9980846. Editorial handling: M. Fonda.

Additional details

Identifiers

Eprint ID
98347
DOI
10.1023/a:1017075315388
Resolver ID
CaltechAUTHORS:20190829-131533566

Related works

Describes
10.1023/a:1017075315388 (DOI)
http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20190829-131533738 (URL)

Funding

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU)
Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES)
NSF
AST-9980846

Dates

Created
2019-08-30
Created from EPrint's datestamp field
Updated
2021-11-16
Created from EPrint's last_modified field