On the evaluation of the phase relation between temperature and wind tides based on ground-based measurements and reanalysis data in the middle atmosphere

The variability in the middle atmosphere is driven by a variety of waves covering different spatial and temporal scales. We diagnose the variability in the thermal tides due to changes in the background wind by an adaptive spectral filter, which takes the intermittency of tides into account. We apply this diagnostic to temperature observations from daylight-capable lidar at midlatitudes (54° N, 12° E) as well as to reanalysis data of horizontal winds from Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2 (MERRA-2). These reanalysis data provide additional wind information in the altitude range between 30 and 70 km at the location of the lidar as well as on a global scale. Using the global data gives information on the tidal modes seen at one location. A comparison of the temperature and wind information affirms whether there is a fixed phase relation of the tidal waves in the temperature and the wind data. We found that in general the local tidal signatures are dominated by migrating tidal modes, and the signature is weaker in temperatures than in winds. While the meridional wind tide leads the zonal wind tide by 90°, the phase relation between the temperature and the wind tide is more complex. At certain altitudes the temperature tide follows the zonal wind tide. This knowledge helps in improving the interpretation of the seasonal variation in tides from different observables, especially when only data from single locations are used. The findings provide additional information about the phase stability of tidal waves, and the results clearly show the importance of a measurement acquisition on a routine basis with high temporal and spatial resolution. © 2019 Author(s)

Distortion of meteor count rates due to cosmic radio noise and atmospheric particularities

The determination of the meteoroid flux is still a scientifically challenging task. This paper focusses on the impact of extraterrestrial noise sources as well as atmospheric phenomena on the observation of specular meteor echoes. The effect of cosmic radio noise on the meteor detection process is estimated by computing the relative difference between radio loud and radio quiet areas and comparing the monthly averaged meteor flux for fixed signal-to-noise ratios or fixed electron line density measurements. Related to the cosmic radio noise is the influence of D-layer absorption or interference with sporadic E-layers, which can lead to apparent day-to-day variation of the meteor flux of 15-20%. © 2010 Author(s)

Distortion of meteor count rates due to cosmic radio noise and atmospheric particularities

The determination of the meteoroid flux is still a scientifically challenging task. This paper focusses on the impact of extraterrestrial noise sources as well as atmospheric phenomena on the observation of specular meteor echoes. The effect of cosmic radio noise on the meteor detection process is estimated by computing the relative difference between radio loud and radio quiet areas and comparing the monthly averaged meteor flux for fixed signal-to-noise ratios or fixed electron line density measurements. Related to the cosmic radio noise is the influence of D-layer absorption or interference with sporadic E-layers, which can lead to apparent day-to-day variation of the meteor flux of 15–20%

Can VHF radars at polar latitudes measure mean vertical winds in the presence of PMSE?

Mean vertical velocity measurements obtained from radars at polar latitudes using polar mesosphere summer echoes (PMSEs) as an inert tracer have been considered to be non-representative of the mean vertical winds over the last couple of decades. We used PMSEs observed with the Middle Atmosphere Alomar Radar System (MAARSY) over Andøya, Norway (69.30°N, 16.04°E), during summers of 2016 and 2017 to derive mean vertical winds in the upper mesosphere. The 3-D vector wind components (zonal, meridional and vertical) are based on a Doppler beam swinging experiment using five beam directions (one vertical and four oblique). The 3-D wind components are computed using a recently developed wind retrieval technique. The method includes full non-linear error propagation, spatial and temporal regularisation, and beam pointing corrections and angular pointing uncertainties. Measurement uncertainties are used as weights to obtain seasonal weighted averages and characterise seasonal mean vertical velocities. Weighted average values of vertical velocities reveal a weak upward behaviour at altitudes ∼ 84-87 km after eliminating the influence of the speed of falling ice. At the same time, a sharp decrease (increase) in the mean vertical velocities at the lower (upper) edges of the summer mean altitude profile, which are attributed to the sampling issues of the PMSE due to disappearance of the target corresponding to the certain regions of motions and temperatures, prevails. Thus the mean vertical velocities can be biased downwards at the lower edge, and the mean vertical velocities can be biased upwards at the upper edge, while at the main central region the obtained mean vertical velocities are consistent with expected upward values of mean vertical winds after considering ice particle sedimentation. © 2019 Author(s). This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License

Geometric considerations of polar mesospheric summer echoes in tilted beams using coherent radar imaging

We present observations of polar mesospheric summer echoes (PMSE) using the Middle Atmosphere Alomar Radar System in Northern Norway (69.30° N, 16.04° E). The radar is able to resolve PMSE at high spatial and temporal resolution and to perform pulse-to-pulse beam steering. In this experiment, 81 oblique beam directions were used with off-zenith angles up to 25°. For each beam pointing direction and range gate, coherent radar imaging was applied to determine the mean backscatter location. The location of the mean scatterer in the beam volume was calculated by the deviation from the nominal off-zenith angle of the brightest pixel. It shows that in tilted beams with an off-zenith angle greater than 5°, structures appear at the altitudinal edges of the PMSE layer. Our results indicate that the mean influence of the location of the maximum depends on the tilt of the beam and on the observed area of the PMSE layer. At the upper/lower edge of the PMSE layer, the mean backscatter has a greater/smaller off-zenith angle than the nominal off-zenith angle. This effect intensifies with greater off-zenith beam pointing direction, so the beam filling factor plays an important role in the observation of PMSE layers for oblique beams

Some anomalies of mesosphere/lower thermosphere parameters during the recent solar minimum

The recent solar minimum has been characterized by an anomalous strong decrease of thermospheric density since 2005. Here we analyze anomalies of mesosphere/lower thermosphere parameters possibly connected with this effect. In particular, nighttime mean LF reflection heights measured at Collm, Germany, show a very strong decrease after 2005, indicating a density decrease. This decrease is also visible in mean meteor heights measured with VHF meteor radar at Collm. This density decrease is accompanied by an increase of gravity wave (GW) amplitudes in the upper mesosphere and a decrease in the lower thermosphere. On the decadal scale, GWs are negatively correlated with the background zonal wind, but this correlation is modulated in the course of the solar cycle, indicating the combined effect of GW filtering and density decrease

Validation of the radiation pattern of the VHF MST radar MAARSY by scattering off a sounding rocket's payload

The Middle Atmosphere Alomar Radar System (MAARSY) is a monostatic radar with an active phased array antenna designed for studies of phenomena in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere. Its design, in particular the flexible beam forming and steering capability, makes it a powerful instrument to perform observations with high angular and temporal resolution. For the configuration and analysis of experiments carried out with the radar it is essential to have knowledge of the actual radiation pattern. Therefore, during the time since the radar was put into operation various active and passive experiments have been performed to gain knowledge of the radiation pattern. With these experiments the beam pointing accuracy, the beam width and phase distribution of the antenna array were investigated. Here, the use of a sounding rocket and its payload as a radar target is described which was launched in the proximity of the radar. The analysis of these observations allows the detailed investigation of the two-way radiation pattern for different antenna array sizes and beam pointing positions

Analysis of small-scale structures in lidar observations of noctilucent clouds using a pattern recognition method

International audienceNoctilucent clouds (NLC) have been observed with the ALOMAR Rayleigh/Mie/Raman lidar at 69° N using a temporal resolution of 30 s since 2008. We present an approach to identify and analyze the localized small scale wave structures of the varying altitude of the NLC layers in the range of 5-30 min that may be caused by gravity waves. Small scale gravity waves breaking in the mesopause region contribute notably to the momentum flux but are difficult to observe and to characterize. The approach is based on a template matching method using generalized structures to be identified in the NLC observations. The new method permits the identification of structures that are present in NLC only for a time too short to appear in a Fourier or wavelet spectrum. Without the need for a continuous time series the method can handle multiple NLC layers and data gaps. In the 2000 h of NLC data from the years 2008-2015, we find almost 5000 single wave structures with a total length of 738 h. The structures are found on average 400 m below the NLC centroid altitude and a large number of the structures has a length at the lower limit of 5 min. With the background wind from the meteor radar near ALOMAR a horizontal scale is estimated based on the length of the individual structures. The distribution of horizontal scales shows a peak of wave structures at 15-20 km in accordance with the horizontal wavelengths found by ground-based camera observations of NLC

The Geminid meteor shower during the ECOMA sounding rocket campaign: specular and head echo radar observations

The ECOMA (Existence of Charge state Of meteoric smoke particles in the Middle Atmosphere) sounding rocket campaign was conducted during the Geminid meteor shower in December 2010 in order to explore whether there is a change of the properties of meteoric smoke particles due to the stream. In parallel to the rocket flights, three radars monitored the Geminid activity located at the launch site in Northern Norway and in Northern Germany to gain information about the meteor flux into the atmosphere. The results presented here are based on specular meteor radar observations measuring the radiant position, the velocity and the meteor flux into the atmosphere during the Geminids. Further, the MAARSY (Middle Atmosphere Alomar Radar System) radar was operated to conduct meteor head echo experiments. The interferometric capabilities of MAARSY permit measuring the meteor trajectories within the radar beam and to determine the source radiant and geocentric meteor velocity, as well as to compute the meteor orbit