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The Harvard Radio Meteor Project Meteor Velocity Distribution Reappraised

Taylor, A.D. (1995) The Harvard Radio Meteor Project Meteor Velocity Distribution Reappraised. Icarus, 116 (1). pp. 154-158. ISSN 0019-1035. (doi:10.1006/icar.1995.1117) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:19087)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/icar.1995.1117

Abstract

The relative distribution of atmospheric encounter speeds at constant mass for observations made as part of the Harvard Radio Meteor Project synodic year observations has been recalculated using a cumulative mass index, alpha = 1.1 +/- 0.1, and the mass velocity relation from F. Verniani (1973, J. Geophys. Res. 78, 8429-8462), gamma = 4.23 +/- 0.07. A discrepency in the bias-corrected values reported by Z. Sekanina and R. B. Southworth (1975, NASA Contractor Report CR 2316, Smithsonian Institution, Cambridge, MA) is identified as a possible typographical error with the relative numbers of high speed meteors increased by 10(2) times over that of the previous analysis. The reappraised distribution is in good agreement with that reported by J. E. Erickson (1968, J. Geophys. Res. 73, 3721-3762) but is based on data with considerably improved statistical reliability and samples a mass range more directly applicable to spacecraft impact studies. The mean impact speed weighted to equivalent crater diameter using a mass-velocity relation, mv(2), is 23.6 km sec(-1). This value moves the S. G. Love and D. E. Brownlee (1993, Science 262, 550-553) mass influx peak to 8 x 10(-6) g (175-mu m-diameter particles), half the previous mass, and brings their cumulative flux curve into much closer agreement with Grun et al. (1985, Icarus 62, 244-272).

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1006/icar.1995.1117
Subjects: Q Science
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Natural Sciences > Physics and Astronomy
Depositing User: I.T. Ekpo
Date Deposited: 27 Oct 2009 19:34 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 09:57 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/19087 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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