Heliophysics

Aeronomy of Ice in Mesosphere (AIM)

Remote Sensing Observatory · Competed · PI-led · Launched on April 25, 2007 · Completed · LCC: $140M/$234M (2025 $)Life-cycle cost: NASA’s reported cost to build, launch, and operate a mission through its prime mission, plus documented partner contributions, in 2025 dollars. Extended missions are not included. Methods · Wikipedia

Scope Active Mission WindowActivePapers published from the first full month after science operations begin through two years after the mission ends. Citations are counted through the third calendar year after each paper appears. For AIM, papers published June 1, 2007 to January 1, 2024. Methods LifetimeLifetimeEvery tracked publication to date, with every citation to date. For AIM, papers published from 2009 to November 3, 2026. Methods
Tracked publicationsTracked publications: peer-reviewed papers we found that name the mission or its instruments in their titles, abstracts, or keywords. Papers that used the data without naming it are missed. Methods157
CitationsCitations: every citation these publications have drawn to date. Older missions have had longer to collect them. Methods3,356
Citation indices
h-indexh-index: the largest h such that h papers have at least h citations each. It only grows with time, so older missions score higher. Methods32
g-indexg-index: the largest g for which the g most-cited papers together hold at least g² citations. Like the h-index, but it lets the most-cited papers count for more. Methods47
m-indexm-index: a mission’s h-index divided by the years since its first peer-reviewed paper. It falls every 1 January even when nothing else changes; the figure shown is as of November 3, 2026. It also discounts the long operating life that larger missions paid for. Methods1.8
toritori (total research impact, from SciX): for every paper citing one of the mission’s papers, 1 divided by the citing paper’s reference count times the cited paper’s author count, summed, with self-citations removed. It favors citations from papers with short reference lists and from outside the mission’s own authors. Computed over the tracked citation graph, which can be slightly incomplete. Always over every tracked publication to date, whichever scope is chosen. Methods9.3
riqriq (research impact quotient): 1,000 times the square root of tori, divided by the years since the mission’s first paper. A rate, not a total, so it does not keep growing with age the way the h-index and tori do. Like tori, always over every tracked publication to date. Methods169

Publications and citations by year (lifetime)

Publications per yearCumulative citations

Institutional contributions (lifetime)The institutions SciX lists for each paper’s authors, as printed on the paper, located through the Research Organization Registry. A square counts a paper once, however many of its authors worked there. Methods

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Tracked publications over the lifetime (157)

All publications CSV · JSON

  1. The Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) mission: Overview and early science results

    Russell, James M., III, 2009, JASTP

    184 lifetime citations

  2. The solar occultation for ice experiment

    Gordley, Larry L., 2009, JASTP

    122 lifetime citations

  3. High-altitude data assimilation system experiments for the northern summer mesosphere season of 2007

    Eckermann, Stephen D., 2009, JASTP

    108 lifetime citations

  4. Interpretation of SOFIE PMC measurements: Cloud identification and derivation of mass density, particle shape, and particle size

    Hervig, Mark E., 2009, JASTP

    84 lifetime citations

  5. The cloud imaging and particle size experiment on the Aeronomy of Ice in the mesosphere mission: Instrument concept, design, calibration, and on-orbit performance

    McClintock, W. E., 2009, JASTP

    82 lifetime citations

  6. First Satellite Observations of Meteoric Smoke in the Middle Atmosphere

    Hervig, Mark E., 2009, GeoRL

    80 lifetime citations

  7. Satellite observations of ozone in the upper mesosphere

    Smith, A. K., 2013, JGRD

    77 lifetime citations

  8. Relationships between polar mesospheric clouds, temperature, and water vapor from Solar Occultation for Ice Experiment (SOFIE) observations

    Hervig, Mark E., 2009, JGRD

    69 lifetime citations

  9. The content and composition of meteoric smoke in mesospheric ice particles from SOFIE observations

    Hervig, Mark E., 2012, JASTP

    66 lifetime citations

  10. Retrieval of polar mesospheric cloud properties from CIPS: Algorithm description, error analysis and cloud detection sensitivity

    Lumpe, J. D., 2013, JASTP

    66 lifetime citations

  11. Phase functions of polar mesospheric cloud ice as observed by the CIPS instrument on the AIM satellite

    Bailey, Scott M., 2009, JASTP

    65 lifetime citations

  12. The cloud imaging and particle size experiment on the aeronomy of ice in the mesosphere mission: Cloud morphology for the northern 2007 season

    Rusch, D. W., 2009, JASTP

    59 lifetime citations

  13. Polar mesospheric cloud structures observed from the cloud imaging and particle size experiment on the Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere spacecraft: Atmospheric gravity waves as drivers for longitudinal variability in polar mesospheric cloud occurrence

    Chandran, A., 2010, JGRD

    57 lifetime citations

  14. Intra-seasonal variability of polar mesospheric clouds due to inter-hemispheric coupling

    Karlsson, B., 2009, GeoRL

    56 lifetime citations

  15. Decadal variability in PMCs and implications for changing temperature and water vapor in the upper mesosphere

    Hervig, Mark E., 2016, JGRD

    48 lifetime citations

  16. Gravity wave observations in the summertime polar mesosphere from the Cloud Imaging and Particle Size (CIPS) experiment on the AIM spacecraft

    Chandran, A., 2009, JASTP

    46 lifetime citations

  17. Seasonal variation of the quasi 5 day planetary wave: Causes and consequences for polar mesospheric cloud variability in 2007

    Nielsen, K., 2010, JGRD

    44 lifetime citations

  18. A multi tracer analysis of thermosphere to stratosphere descent triggered by the 2013 Stratospheric Sudden Warming

    Bailey, S. M., 2014, GeoRL

    44 lifetime citations

  19. Comparison of polar mesospheric cloud measurements from the Cloud Imaging and Particle Size experiment and the solar backscatter ultraviolet instrument in 2007

    Benze, Susanne, 2009, JASTP

    41 lifetime citations

  20. Numerical simulations of the three-dimensional distribution of polar mesospheric clouds and comparisons with Cloud Imaging and Particle Size (CIPS) experiment and the Solar Occultation For Ice Experiment (SOFIE) observations

    Bardeen, C. G., 2010, JGRD

    41 lifetime citations

How we found these papers

We searched NASA’s Science Explorer (SciX) for peer-reviewed articles naming AIM in the title, abstract or keywords; standard filters drop articles that are not peer-reviewed and magazine pieces.

((=abs:"Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere" OR =abs:"Cloud Imaging and Particle Size" OR =abs:"Solar Occultation for Ice Experiment" OR (abs:CIPS AND (abs:(mesosphere OR noctilucent) OR =abs:"gravity wave" OR =abs:"gravity waves")) OR (abs:SOFIE AND (abs:(mesosphere OR stratosphere OR thermosphere OR occultation OR meteoric) OR =abs:"middle atmospheric" OR =abs:"middle atmosphere")) OR (abs:AIM AND (abs:noctilucent OR =abs:"polar mesospheric") AND abs:(satellite OR spacecraft)))) AND property:refereed AND doctype:article AND pubdate:[2007-06 TO 2040-01] AND NOT bibstem:("A&R" OR "ACPD" OR "AIASJ" OR "AMTD" OR "AeAm" OR "AirSp" OR "AsNow" OR "AsUAI" OR "AvWST" OR "BGD" OR "C&E" OR "C&T" OR "CAPJ" OR "CliPD" OR "E&S" OR "ENews" OR "ESDD" OR "ESSDD" OR "ESuDD" OR "GID" OR "GMDD" OR "GeCAS" OR "HESSD" OR "IrAJ" OR "JCos" OR "JRASC" OR "LAstr" OR "MNSSA" OR "Met" OR "NHESD" OR "NPGD" OR "NewSc" OR "OcScD" OR "Orion" OR "PhT" OR "PhTea" OR "PhuZ" OR "PhyOJ" OR "PhyW" OR "PlR" OR "SOILD" OR "SciAm" OR "SpFl" OR "TCD" OR "ZemVs")

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