Premium
Mesosphere summer echoes as observed by VHF radar at Kühlungsborn (54°N)
Author(s) -
Latteck R.,
Singer W.,
Höffner J.
Publication year - 1999
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 - 10.1029/1999gl900225
Subject(s) - mesosphere , atmospheric sciences , environmental science , summer season , middle latitudes , radar , radar systems , meteorology , winter season , lidar , climatology , stratosphere , geology , physics , remote sensing , telecommunications , computer science
We give a summary report on the properties of Mesosphere Summer Echoes (MSE) layers as observed throughout a complete summer season. The observations were performed with the new 53.5 MHz radar system at Kühlungsborn (54.1°N, 11.8°E) during the summer 1998. MSE are the equivalent of Polar Mesosphere Summer Echoes (PMSE) at midlatitudes. MSE events have been observed only during day‐time, even though the radar was operated continuously. MSE were observed on 34 days for a total of 92 hours and only during sunlit conditions. The first and last MSE events of the season have been detected on June 2 and on August 3, 1998, respectively. Most of the MSE events have had a duration of the order of one to five hours. Two long lasting events have been observed on June 13 and 26 with a duration of 8 and 12 hours. On both dates, noctilucent cloud (NLC) layers were present and colocated lidars observed NLC overhead at night on June 13.