Radars detect plasma trails created by the billions of small meteoroids that enter the Earth's atmosphere daily, returning data used to infer characteristics of the meteoroid population and upper atmosphere. Researchers use models to investigate the dynamic evolution of the trails, enabling them to better interpret radar results. This study presents a fully kinetic, three-dimensional code to explore the effects of three trail characteristics: length, neutral wind speed, and ablation altitude. The simulations characterize the turbulence that develops as the trail evolves and these are compared to radar data. They also show that neutral winds drive the formation of waves and turbulence in trails, and that wave amplitudes increase with neutral wind speed. The finite trail simulations demonstrate that the bulk motion of the trail flows with the neutral wind. A detailed analysis of simulated trail spectra yield spectral widths and evaluate signal strength as a function of aspect angle. Waves propagate primarily along the length of the trail in all cases, and most power is in modes perpendicular to . Persistent waves develop at wavelengths corresponding to the gradient scale length of the original trail. Our results show that the rate at which power drops with respect to aspect angle in meter-scale modes increases from 5.7 to 6.9 dB/degree with a 15 km increase in altitude. The results will allow researchers to draw more detailed and accurate information from non-specular radar observations of meteors.

中文翻译：

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流星轨迹的 3D 动力学模拟分析

雷达检测由数十亿个每天进入地球大气层的小流星体产生的等离子体轨迹，返回用于推断流星体种群和高层大气特征的数据。研究人员使用模型来研究轨迹的动态演变，使他们能够更好地解释雷达结果。本研究提供了一个完全动力学的三维代码，用于探索三个轨迹特征的影响：长度、中性风速和消融高度。模拟描述了随着轨迹演变而产生的湍流，并将其与雷达数据进行比较。他们还表明，中性风推动了波浪和小径湍流的形成，并且波幅随着中性风速而增加。有限步道模拟表明步道的整体运动随中性风流动。对模拟轨迹频谱的详细分析产生频谱宽度并评估作为纵横角函数的信号强度。在所有情况下，波主要沿路径长度传播，并且大多数功率处于垂直于. 持续波在与原始轨迹的梯度尺度长度相对应的波长处产生。我们的结果表明，在米级模式下，功率相对于纵横角的下降率从 5.7 分贝/度增加到 6.9 分贝/度，海拔每增加 15 公里。结果将使研究人员能够从流星的非镜面雷达观测中获得更详细和准确的信息。