Variation of sporadic meteor background and solar activity

V. Porubčan; P. Zigo; M. Buček; G. Cevolani; G. Trivellone

doi:10.1140/epjp/i2011-11046-4

EPJ

Variation of sporadic meteor background and solar activity

V. Porubčan¹^,2, P. Zigo¹, M. Buček¹, G. Cevolani³ and G. Trivellone³

¹ Department of Astronomy, Physics of the Earth and Meteorology FMPI Comenius University, 842 48, Bratislava, Slovakia
² Astronomical Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, 845 04, Bratislava, Slovakia
³ CNR-ISAC, via Gobetti 101, 40129, Bologna, Italy

Received: 7 February 2011
Accepted: 31 March 2011
Published online: 6 May 2011

Abstract

Observations of the sporadic background meteors in 1996-2007 by the Bologna-Lecce-Modra forward-scatter radio system operating along two baselines are analyzed and discussed. The activity curves of sporadic meteor echoes and their variations indicate a direct correlation with the solar activity represented by the sunspot relative number R , as well as with the solar coronal index CI . The mass distribution exponents and its variations in the period of the 23rd solar cycle indicate a relatively stable population of the sporadic background meteoroid population in the surroundings of the Earth’s orbit. Investigation of meteor heights compiled from the IAU MDC catalogue of precise photographic orbits for a period of five solar cycles do not exhibit any pronounced variation consistent with the solar cycle activity.

Article contents