1. OMPS/LP observations of Russian meteor aftermath effect on Earth’s atmosphere Nick Gorkavyi, Science Systems and Applications, Inc D.F. Rault, GESTAR, Morgan State University P.A. Newman, A.M. da Silva, NASA/GSFC OMPS Science Team Meeting, June 6, 2013

2. Three points: Suomi satellite detected new stratospheric “skybelt” from meteor dust around the planet in the mid-stratosphere We can clearly see the Chelyabinsk bolide aftermath effect in OMPS/LP aerosol product (> 2 months). Observations corroborated with back trajectory analyses We can evaluate meteor cloud parameters: particle size, rate of descent, total mass of particulates within cloud

3. Meteor physical characteristics: 60 feet in diameter, 10,000 metric tons, Velocity of 18.6 km/s Exploded at 03:20 UTC (just after local sunrise), at altitude of 23.3 km with energy release equivalent to more than 30 Hiroshima atomic weapons On the ground, meteoritic debris scattered over large area, and recovered fragments were found to be very small (typically sub-cm), bearing witness to intensity of air-burst explosion which pulverized the bolide during the 10 s duration atmospheric entry The recovered meteoritic material consists of ordinary LL5 chondrite Meteor plume over Chelyabinsk on Feb 15 th, 2013

4. View from North-West T ~ 4 min after explosion Large fraction of meteor dust transported upwards in air-burst mushroom cloud which rose quickly (~100 s) up to 33-35 km, above Earth’s Junge layer 23.3 km Mesospheric part of plume (>50 km)

5. On February 15 th, OMPS/LP detected the meteor cloud in stratosphere NPP SUOMI OMPS/LP Meteor Present talk: focus on meteor aftermath effect on atmosphere over ensuing 2 months: Feb 15 th -Apr 15 th

6. First detection of plume, Orbit 6752 Second detection of plume, Orbit 6753 Chelyabinsk On February 15 th, OMPS/LP detected the meteor cloud in stratosphere on two orbits: 1.3 h 35 min after meteor impact: near Novosibirsk, about 1100 km east of Chelyabinsk: eastward plume drift velocity of ~80 m/s 2. 5 h 16 min meteor impact: near Chelyabinsk

7. Mean Junge layer as measured by OMPS/LP Feb 8 – April 15, 2013 OMPS/LP observations above Junge layer Week prior to meteor Week 1 after meteor Week 2 Scale x 35

8. Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 7

9. Meteor day-by-day cloud evolution

10. February 16 th Plume detected several times on succeeding orbits and observed to stretch over 150° of longitude Mean eastward velocity of ~35 m/s. The vertical wind shear (from meteorological data) at these levels is consistent with the observed plume stretching  high altitude dust (40 km) moving much faster (>60m/s)  low altitude dust (30 km) moving much slower (~ 20 m/s)  Plume well above June layer  Small Angstrom (Large particles)  High plume above Junge  small extinction relative to Junge Meteor plume extinction is 10 times smaller than Junge layer but still detected by limb viewing OMPS/LP

11. February 18 th Plume was observed from North America to the middle of the Atlantic ocean Maximum plume density registered along the US/Canada border at altitudes of 36-37 km

12. February 19 th 4 days after meteor impact the upper part of the meteor plume has circumnavigated the globe and returned over Chelyabinsk, 20000 km in 4 days: 200 km/h, 60 m/sec

13. February 20 th

14. February 21 st

15. February 22 nd

16. February 23 rd

17. February 25 th

18. February 26 th Meteoric dust plume has formed a quasi-continuous mid-latitude “skybelt” located a few kilometers above the Junge layer. Skybelt settled on inside edge of polar vortex, as confirmed by the GEOS-5 model simulations

19. February 27 th

20. February 28 th

21. March 1 st

22. March 2 nd

23. March 4 th  Larger Angstrom (Smaller particles)  Lower plume above Junge  small extinction relative to Junge

24. March 5 th

25. March 6 th

26. March 7 th

27. March 8 th

28. March 9 th

29. March 10 th

30. March 18 th

31. March 19 th

32. March 20 th

33. March 21 st  Larger Angstrom (Smaller particles)  Lower plume above Junge  small extinction relative to Junge

34. March 22 nd

35. March 23 rd

36. March 25 th

37. March 26 th

38. March 27 th

39. March 28 th

40. March 29 th

41. March 30 th  Larger Angstrom (Smaller particles)  Lower plume above Junge  small extinction relative to Junge March 30, 2013

42. Meteor plume simulation with Goddard Trajectory Model (GTM) 16 th 20 th 18 th The advection of sample parcels is traced using the wind / temperatures dataset from NASA’s MERRA reanalysis Simulations initialized on Feb 15 th at Chelyabinsk in a 150 km cylinder extending from 33.5 to 43.5 km For each day, - Red for 43.5 km - Blue for 33.5 km Chelyabinsk

43. Meteor plume simulation with GEOS-5 5 dust bins with radius at 0.06, 0.11, 0.22, 0.44, 0.89 μm Standard GEOS-5 processes: advection, diffusion, convection, dry/wet deposition, sedimentation Initial dust distribution: 100 tons between 30 and 40 km centered at Chelyabinsk A movie depicting time evolution of modeled plume Figure shows snapshots of modeled plume about a week after initialization Dust AOD on Feb 21, 12.00 UTC Dust AOD on Feb 23, 21.00 UTC AOD

44. Time evolution of Meteor cloud (1) Meteor skybelt has a vertical depth of about 5 km, a width of about 300-400 km, a density of about 1 particle per cc. Total particulate mass within skybelt is estimated to be 40-50 metric tons.

45. Time evolution of Meteor cloud (2) 88 meters/ day - Sedimentation - Diabatic cooling Particle size slowly decreasing from 0.2 to 0.05 μm Plume optical depth slowly decreasing Plume slowly drifting Northwards

46. Conclusion The Chelyabinsk meteor event was ideal for assessing OMPS/LP potentials: - Large (60 feet diameter, 10000 tons) - Highly observed (landed over a city, highly photographed) - Easy to analyze composition (most of mass deposited onto snow) - ideal for OMPS/LP  high Northern latitudes: low SSA, confined within polar vortex  entry during daylight OMPS/LP was proven valuable to track the meteor plume in time / space The models and stratospheric meteorological data assimilation allowed one to predict the evolution of meteoric dust plumes, suggesting a great potential for the assimilation OMPS/LP aerosol retrievals in near real-time. The Earth is constantly impacted by meteors, and meteoric debris are known to contribute to high altitude atmospheric physics (such as condensation nuclei for stratospheric and mesospheric clouds). Further observations by OMPS/LP over its 5-year design lifetime will help in better understanding these effects. The Chelyabinsk meteor plume can be used as test case for study of variability of spectra, TH problem and upgrading retrieval algorithm for local events.