1. Auroral emission generated by a trimethyl aluminum release
- Author
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Michael C. Kelley, L. J. Gelinas, Miguel Larsen, and C. Sia
- Subjects
Atmospheric Science ,Sounding rocket ,Materials science ,business.product_category ,Ecology ,Meteorology ,Paleontology ,Soil Science ,chemistry.chemical_element ,Forestry ,Aquatic Science ,Oceanography ,Photochemistry ,Geophysics ,chemistry ,Rocket ,Space and Planetary Science ,Geochemistry and Petrology ,Aluminium ,Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous) ,business ,Earth-Surface Processes ,Water Science and Technology ,West indies - Abstract
A trimethyl aluminum (TMA) release rocket launched during the 1998 Coqui II sounding rocket campaign in Puerto Rico produced what appeared to be an artificially generated aurora. This phenomenon has been observed on several other occasions but has heretofore not been reported. In this paper we discuss the observation of artificially generated auroral light in relation to a kerosene-doped TMA release and propose an auroral generation mechanism involving motion of charged particulates associated with the TMA trail.
- Published
- 2001