Solitons in Earth’s dusty mesosphere

The Earth’s mesosphere at altitudes of 80–95 km exhibits layered phenomena known as noctilucent clouds and polar mesosphere summer echoes. These structures are believed to be associated with the presence of large quantities of charged dust or aerosol particles. The sign of the charge depends on the material composition of the latter as well as the environment. The characteristics of self-organized structures – solitons on the dust acoustic time scale depend strongly on the sign of the charge, and the structures can appear as either electron (ion) density humps or dips. Such a physical distinction can be used for the identification and diagnostics of noctilucent clouds and polar mesosphere summer echoes.