ACP Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics ACP 1680-7324 Copernicus GmbH Göttingen, Germany 10.5194/acp-10-909-2010 Metal concentrations in the upper atmosphere during meteor showers Correira J. 1 4 Aikin A. C. 1 Grebowsky J. M. 2 Burrows J. P. 3 The Catholic University of America, Institute for Astrophysics and Computational Sciences Department of Physics, Washington, DC 20064, USA NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 695, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA Institute of Environmental Physics (IUP), University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany now at: Computational Physics, Inc., Springfield, VA 22151, USA 01 02 2010 10 3 909 917 This is an open-access article ditributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. This article is available from http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/10/909/2010/acp-10-909-2010.html The full text article is available as a PDF file from http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/10/909/2010/acp-10-909-2010.pdf

Using the nadir-viewing Global Ozone Measuring Experiment (GOME) UV/VIS spectrometer on the ERS-2 satellite, we investigate short term variations in the vertical magnesium column densities in the atmosphere and any connection to possible enhanced mass deposition during a meteor shower. Time-dependent mass influx rates are derived for all the major meteor showers using published estimates of mass density and temporal profiles of meteor showers. An average daily sporadic background mass flux rate is also calculated and used as a baseline against which calculated shower mass flux rates are compared. These theoretical mass flux rates are then compared with GOME derived metal vertical column densities of Mg and Mg<sup>+</sup> from the years 1996–2001. There is no correlation between theoretical mass flux rates and changes in the Mg and Mg<sup>+</sup> metal column densities. A possible explanation for the lack of a shower related increase in metal concentrations may be differences in the mass regimes dominating the average background mass flux and shower mass flux.

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