Interplanetary dust collected in the earth's stratosphere - The question of solar flare tracksThe negative result of a transmission electron microscope (TEM) search for solar flare tracks in 10 micron interplanetary dust particles (Flynn et al., 1978) which have been collected in the earth's stratosphere with a program of sampling initiated by Brownlee et al. (1976) has been reported previously. In this paper, it is shown that silicates in the particles record laboratory iron-ion tracks which are detectable in the TEM. The absence of tracks in the silicates could be due to track annealing on atmospheric entry, and may indicate a particle emissivity below 0.3, or that many of the particles broke up on encounter with the atmosphere. Alternatively, the lifetime of 10 micron dust particles at 1 AU could be shorter than that given by previous estimates.
Document ID
19820038786
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Proceedings
Authors
Fraundorf, P. (Washington Univ. Saint Louis, MO, United States)
Flynn, G. J. (Washington Univ. Saint Louis, MO, United States)
Walker, R. M. (Washington University St. Louis, MO, United States)
Shirck, J. (3M Center St. Paul, MN, United States)