Effects of charged dust on mesospheric electrical structure Original Research Article

Extremely low effective conductivity of the mesosphere is predicted in the region where both positive and negative charges carried by the dust exceed the charges carried by ions and electrons. This condition is similar to that leading to formation of polar mesosphere summer echoes (PMSE). The predicted effective conductivity of the dusty mesosphere is about two to three orders of magnitude less than the measured ion conductivity. The extremely low effective conductivity of the mesospheric dusty plasma can explain the existence of V/m vertical electric fields observed in the lower mesosphere and in the vicinity of noctilucent clouds and PMSE.