Theory of the Meteor Height Distribution Obtained from Radio-echo Observations II. Sporadic Meteors

The theory of the meteor height distribution is extended to the case of a selected velocity group of sporadic meteors. The width of the height distribution (r.m.s. deviation from the mean) is determined as a function of the atmospheric scale height and the mass distribution of the incident meteors. This latter is shown to be almost exactly inverse square. For a given velocity the mean height is shown to occur at a value of the atmospheric pressure which is related to the physical properties of the meteors and of the ionization process and to the radio-echo equipment parameters. The measurement of meteor heights by the radio-echo technique is suggested as a new and important method for determination of the atmospheric pressure and scale height in the meteor ionization region.