Mapping the Earth's cosmic dust layer by differential solar occultation

Cosmic material enters the Earth's atmosphere daily. These incoming meteoroids are vaporized during atmospheric entry, and the resulting vapor condenses into "smoke" particles which accumulate near 85 km altitude. Cosmic particles are thought to be important in the formation of polar mesospheric clouds, which have been identified as the "miner's canary" of climate change. This work addresses some issues associated with remote measurements of the smoke layer. Signals expected from cosmic particles were modeled and these results indicate that the recently proposed Solar Occultation for Ice (SOFIE) instrument may have the capability to provide the first remote measurements of the smoke layer.