Electrostatics and Collision dynamics of ice and anthropogenic smoke particles in the mesosphere/lower thermosphere
- 1Physical Research Laboratory (Ahmedabad, India)
- 2UiT The Arctic University of Norway (Tromsø, Norway)
Abstract
The increase in satellite launches raises the anthropogenic influx of various elements into the Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere (MLT), comparable to the natural influx caused by meteoric ablation. This study investigates the electrostatic interactions between nano-meter-sized ice particles and remnants of space debris using a classical electrostatic framework. Aside from the Coulomb interaction, the attractive force between two particles at short distances, arising from polarization, is taken into account. Collision outcomes, the effective velocity regime for collisions, and the subsequent aggregation probability are estimated. Aggregation is limited to a specific range of collision velocities between minimum and maximum values. This range varies depending on factors such as particle size, mass density, and dielectric constant. For most particles, the velocity range of aggregation is from a few m s ⁻¹ to several tens of m s ⁻¹ , where smaller particles may need significantly higher velocities to form stable aggregates. When considering the collisions of particles in thermal motion, it is found that Al ₂ O ₃ (due to its greater abundance) and TiO ₂ (due to its higher dielectric constant), both originating from anthropogenic sources, may dominate in the formation of ice-anthropogenic particle aggregates. In the MLT region, the formation of stable aggregates from the collision of ice with particles from space debris, which one may denote as anthropogenic smoke particles (ASPs), is similar to that from collisions with meteoric smoke particles (MSPs).
Versions
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BibTeX
@article{sana2026electrostatics,
title = {{Electrostatics and Collision dynamics of ice and anthropogenic smoke particles in the mesosphere/lower thermosphere}},
author = {Trinesh Sana and Sanjay K. Mishra and Ingrid Mann},
journal = {Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.5194/acp-26-14385-2026},
url = {https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/26/14385/2026/},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Electrostatics and Collision dynamics of ice and anthropogenic smoke particles in the mesosphere/lower thermosphere
AU - Trinesh Sana
AU - Sanjay K. Mishra
AU - Ingrid Mann
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/13
JO - Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
DO - 10.5194/acp-26-14385-2026
UR - https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/26/14385/2026/
AB - The increase in satellite launches raises the anthropogenic influx of various elements into the Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere (MLT), comparable to the natural influx caused by meteoric ablation. This study investigates the electrostatic interactions between nano-meter-sized ice particles and remnants of space debris using a classical electrostatic framework. Aside from the Coulomb interaction, the attractive force between two particles at short distances, arising from polarization, is taken into account. Collision outcomes, the effective velocity regime for collisions, and the subsequent aggregation probability are estimated. Aggregation is limited to a specific range of collision velocities between minimum and maximum values. This range varies depending on factors such as particle size, mass density, and dielectric constant. For most particles, the velocity range of aggregation is from a few m s ⁻¹ to several tens of m s ⁻¹ , where smaller particles may need significantly higher velocities to form stable aggregates. When considering the collisions of particles in thermal motion, it is found that Al ₂ O ₃ (due to its greater abundance) and TiO ₂ (due to its higher dielectric constant), both originating from anthropogenic sources, may dominate in the formation of ice-anthropogenic particle aggregates. In the MLT region, the formation of stable aggregates from the collision of ice with particles from space debris, which one may denote as anthropogenic smoke particles (ASPs), is similar to that from collisions with meteoric smoke particles (MSPs).
SN - 1680-7324
ER -