Earth  ID: 20112

AIM's Cosmic Dust Experiment and Cloud Formation

Animations by Susan Twardy Released on September 3, 2007
Like clouds in other parts of the atmosphere, one element required for polar mesospheric clouds to form is tiny dust particles on which water vapor can accumulate and grow into ice crystals. Nearer to Earth's surface, clouds form from 'cloud condensation nuclei' that can be sea salt spray, desert dust, or other materials lofted from the surface. In the mesosphere it is thought that cosmic dust particles falling into the Earth's atmosphere might serve this same purpose, and the Cosmic Dust Experiment instrument on the Aeronomy of Ice Mission will be able to identify how important cosmic dust particles are in the lifecycle of these clouds.
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This animation illustrates how dust particles with ice crystals form mesospheric clouds.

Animation Credits

Susan Twardy (HTSI): Lead Animator
James M. Russell III (Hampton University): Scientist
Scott Bailey (Virginia Tech): Scientist
Stefanie Misztal (UMBC): Writer
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/20112

Mission:
AIM

Keywords:
DLESE >> Atmospheric science
SVS >> Clouds
SVS >> Dust
SVS >> Earth
SVS >> HDTV
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Atmosphere >> Aerosols >> Cloud Condensation Nuclei
GCMD >> Location >> Mesosphere
SVS >> AIM
SVS >> Noctilucent Clouds
NASA Science >> Earth

GCMD keywords can be found on the Internet with the following citation: Olsen, L.M., G. Major, K. Shein, J. Scialdone, S. Ritz, T. Stevens, M. Morahan, A. Aleman, R. Vogel, S. Leicester, H. Weir, M. Meaux, S. Grebas, C.Solomon, M. Holland, T. Northcutt, R. A. Restrepo, R. Bilodeau, 2013. NASA/Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Earth Science Keywords. Version 8.0.0.0.0