On the heterogeneous nucleation of mesospheric ice on meteoric smoke particles: Microphysical modeling

• MSP are warmer than ambient atmosphere, depending on MSP composition.
• Nucleation rate is strongly reduced for temperature differences of a few Kelvin.
• Less but larger ice particles are formed compared to a scenario with no temperature difference.
• Iron-rich MSP are not ideal ice nuclei.

Meteor smoke particles (MSP), which are thought to be the nucleation germs for mesospheric ice, are currently discussed to consist of highly absorbing materials such as magnesiowüstite, hematite or magnesium–iron-silicates and may therefore be warmer than the ambient atmosphere. In order to quantify the temperature difference between MSP and the atmosphere we developed a model to calculate the MSP equilibrium temperature in radiational and collisional balance. The temperature difference between MSP and the surrounding atmosphere strongly depends on the composition of the MSP, especially on the relative iron content, where a higher iron content leads to warmer MSP. We then derive an expression of the nucleation rate of mesospheric ice particles which explicitly accounts for this temperature difference. We find that the nucleation rate is strongly reduced by several orders of magnitude if the germ temperature is increased by only a few Kelvin. Implementing this nucleation rate depending on the germ temperature into CARMA, the Community Aerosol and Radiation Model for Atmospheres, we find that fewer but larger ice particles are formed compared to a reference scenario with no temperature difference between MSP and ambient atmosphere. This may indicate that iron-rich MSP are not ideal ice nuclei and that either other MSP-types or other nucleation pathways (e.g. wave induced heterogeneous nucleation or even homogeneous nucleation) are responsible for ice formation at the mesopause.