The role of charged ice particles for the creation of PMSE: A review of recent developments Original Research Article

We review the current understanding of the role of charged ice particles for the creation of PMSE. We briefly describe the historical background leading to the Cho et al. [1992]-theory of PMSE which tried to explain the radar echoes as a turbulent scatter where the scattering electrons have a high Schmidt number due to the fact that somewhat more than 50% of the overall negative charge is bound to heavy aerosol particles of low mobility. We then discuss recent experimental results showing that 1. neutral air turbulence is regularly found only in the upper part of a PMSE layer and 2. that PMSE exist even if only a minor fraction of the overall negative charge is bound to aerosol particles. We then present the solution of this contradiction between experiment and theory by discussing the recent updated electron diffusion theory by Rapp and Lübken [2003]. Their main result is that electron diffusivity is reduced due to the presence of charged aerosol particles almost independently of the ratio between the aerosol charge number density and the electron number density. Furthermore, the diffusive lifetime of electron irregularities can be hours depending on the aerosol radius such that it appears likely that at low altitudes, where we expect the presence of large particles, irregularities exist even though neutral air turbulence might have ceased a considerable time ago. Thus the question for the spatial and temporal variability of mesospheric turbulence is identified as the most pressing task for future research in order to finally understand PMSE.