MST radar observations of the Leonid meteor storm during 1996-2007

Abstract

The Indian MST radar is a powerful atmospheric remote sensing instrument for ionospheric studies operating at 53 MHz frequency. Systematic observations of Leonids were carried out during 16–20 November every year from 1996 to 2007 with radar operating in meteor mode. It has been observed that the presence of strong background component which resulted from several apparitions of parent comet is the cause for the shower activity every year. The trail component that was left behind during each apparition is strong enough to cause the meteor shower for two consecutive years. In this regard, the detailed study of 2007 Leonids is presented in the paper, even though the shower activity was observed to be quite low, and interestingly it resulted in a double (multiple) broad peak rather than a single peak. The results show that the Leonid stream composed of several narrow dense trails existed simultaneously and the sharp meteor outbursts were observed when the Earth encountered a region of high spatial density of particles within the stream.