Premium
Incoherent scatter radar measurement of vertical winds in the mesosphere
Author(s) -
Zhou Qihou H.
Publication year - 2000
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 - 10.1029/2000gl003747
Subject(s) - incoherent scatter , radar , mesosphere , gravity wave , altitude (triangle) , remote sensing , geology , geodesy , amplitude , wind speed , wavelength , ionosphere , meteorology , physics , optics , atmospheric sciences , geophysics , wave propagation , stratosphere , computer science , telecommunications , geometry , mathematics
We report a significant improvement in the measurement of mesospheric winds using the incoherent scatter radar technique. With a height resolution of 600 m and a time resolution of 1 min, we show that the accuracy of the vertical wind measured by the Arecibo incoherent scatter radar is about 1 m/s in the altitude range of 68–88 km. The observed vertical wind amplitude was of the order of a few meters per second. The wind variation was dominated by gravity waves having an apparent period of 34 min below 80 km and 13.8 min above 80 km. The vertical wavelength of the latter gravity wave was 36 km, which was more than twice that of the former. The much improved accuracy was achieved by changing the radar inter‐pulse‐period from 1 ms to 4 ms. This simple change shortens the integration time by about two orders of magnitude comparing with the scheme used in the past. The improved efficiency ought to provide new research opportunities in the D‐region using the incoherent scatter radar technique.