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Neutral density variation from specular meteor echo observations spanning one solar cycle
Author(s) -
Stober G.,
Matthias V.,
Brown P.,
Chau J. L.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2014gl061273
Subject(s) - meteor (satellite) , thermosphere , atmospheric sciences , solar cycle , altitude (triangle) , physics , environmental science , meteorology , ionosphere , astronomy , solar wind , plasma , geometry , mathematics , quantum mechanics
Specular meteor radars have provided essential information about the mesospheric/lower thermosphere (MLT) dynamics. The Canadian Meteor Orbit Radar has been conducting continuous meteor echo observations in a fixed, stable configuration since 2002. Here we present estimates of the neutral air density variations derived from observations of the meteor peak flux altitude. Using a simple model assuming a linear trend and a sinusoidal solar cycle we derived a trend of a decreasing neutral density of 5.8 ± 1.1% per decade at approximately 91 km altitude and an amplitude across the most recent solar cycle, the solar cycle of 2.4 ± 0.7% for solar cycle 23/24. The long‐term trend of decreasing neutral air density in the MLT is in good agreement with the model results from Akmaev et al. (2006).