Simulation‐Derived Radar Cross Sections of a New Meteor Head Plasma Distribution Model. Issue 7 (30th June 2021) - Sugar, G.
Abstract: We present results and analysis of finite‐difference time‐domain (FDTD) simulations of electromagnetic waves scattering off meteor head plasma using an analytical model and a simulation‐derived model of the head plasma distribution. The analytical model was developed by (Dimant & Oppenheim, 2017b, https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JA023963 ) and the simulation‐derived model is based on particle‐in‐cell (PIC) simulations presented in (Sugar et al., 2019, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JA026434 ). Both of these head plasma distribution models show the meteor head plasma is significantly different than the spherically symmetric distributions used in previous studies of meteor head plasma. We use the FDTD simulation results to fit a power law model that relates the meteoroid ablation rate to the head echo radar cross section (RCS), and show that the RCS of plasma distributions derived from the Dimant‐Oppenheim analytical model and the PIC simulations agree to within 4 dBsm. The power law model yields more accurate meteoroid mass estimates than previous methods based on spherically symmetric plasma distributions. Key Points: We use finite‐difference time‐domain simulations to simulate the radar cross section of different meteor head plasma models derived from an analytical model and particle‐in‐cell simulations The radar cross sections of the analytical model and the simulation‐derived plasma distributions agree to within 4 dBsm The magnetic field orientation with respect to the meteor path has a small effect on the head echo's radar cross section