Mass Estimation From Simultaneous Optical and Radar Meteor Observations

Abstract

AbstractThe total mass flux due to meteoric input is not well constrained and estimates vary greatly depending on the measurement technique used. The source of this discrepancy remains an open question in the field. Previous studies investigating the discrepancy by directly comparing mass estimates made using two techniques have been limited by extremely small sample sizes. This work presents a set of 166 meteors observed simultaneously by the MAARSY radar (53.5 MHz) and two nearby optical cameras. Independent masses are estimated using observations from both systems and compared against each other. The resulting mass estimates using both methods agree to within a factor of three on average. The results show two dominant trends: better agreement as meteoroid velocity increases and underestimation of the radar mass for the largest meteoroids observed (>10 mg). These trends had not been quantified by previous studies limited by very small sample sizes, and could help to explain the historic discrepancy between mass estimates by different systems. The general agreement between the radar and photometric masses indicates that both methods perform well independently, and can reliably be applied to radar or optical observations without restriction of simultaneous observations by two systems.