Earth's mesosphere ranges from an altitude of approximately 50 km, culminating in a temperature minimum at altitudes between 80 km and 90 km, known as the mesopause, which marks the boundary between the mesosphere and the thermosphere. The temperature minimum became especially low during the summer in high latitudes, even reaching 100 K due to gravity waves in some rare cases, while the temperature in winter is generally warmer than that in summer, typically above 200 K. The thermal structure of the upper mesosphere is highly complex, with variations in the short time to long-term scales of phenomena. The meridional circulation is believed to be the main reason that summer mesopause is cooler and winter mesopause is warmer.

As the cosmic dust particles hit the Earth they are decelerated in the atmosphere which is observed as meteors, and the meteoroid ablates at altitude between 80 and 120 km and the vapors of refractory elements are believed to re-condense into nanometer-sized dust particles, called meteoric smoke particles (MSPs).

During the summer and at mid- and high-latitudes, ice particles can form in the mesosphere due to the exceptionally low temperatures, and the mesospheric dust, consisting of MSP, is believed to contribute to the formation of these icy particles. These ice particles are observed in clouds that we call polar mesospheric clouds or noctilucent clouds, whose appearance has increased over the last 100 years.

The MSP can be electrically charged by electron attachment, radiation-driven detachment, and other ionization mechanisms, and so can ice particles. Because of their charge, the particles influence the electron and ion number density, significantly changing the charge balance and, in turn, affecting the chemical process. The charge also influences the condensation of ice and the growth of MSP.