Possible relations between meteors, enhanced electron density layers, and sporadic sodium layers

In this paper, we studied the possible relations between incoming meteors, sporadic E (Es) layers, and sporadic (or sudden) sodium atom layers (SSLs) using the data from the FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC constellation, a meteor radar (Wuhan, 31 degrees N, 114 degrees E), and a sodium fluorescent lidar (Hefei, 31.8 degrees N, 117.3 degrees E). From a statistical point of view, a seasonal dependence of SSL correlates well with the annual variation of Es and is also consistent with seasonal meteor deposition except for February and March. It suggests that a "meteor-Es-SSL" chain could be reasonable if the recombination process were taken into consideration. Detailed study on the relationship between electron density profiles provided by the COSMIC radio occultation and the observations of SSLs by the University of Science and Technology of China via lidar illustrates that the appearance of Es accompanying SSL (i.e., 56.3%) is three times greater than that in the "normal" sodium layer. It also indicates that tides play an important role in causing the lower SSLs, which might be able to carry the upper dense electrons and ions in the Es layer formed by wind shear to the lower altitudes through downward phase propagations.