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First measurements of lower mesospheric wind by airborne microwave radiometry
Author(s) -
Flury T.,
Hocke K.,
Müller S. C.,
Kämpfer N.
Publication year - 2008
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 - 10.1029/2008gl034663
Subject(s) - remote sensing , environmental science , microwave , doppler effect , radiometry , wind speed , mesosphere , radiometer , spectrometer , microwave radiometer , narrowband , radar , atmospheric sounding , wind direction , meteorology , physics , optics , stratosphere , geology , quantum mechanics , telecommunications , astronomy , computer science
The Institute of Applied Physics operates an airborne microwave radiometer that measures the rotational transition line of water vapor at 183.3 GHz. A narrowband digital FFT spectrometer is used for the detection of the atmospheric signal with a channel resolution of 12 kHz. For the first time we measure lower mesospheric wind using the wind induced Doppler shift of the spectral line at its center. The Doppler frequency shift is calculated by the center of mass method allowing to retrieve the wind speed in the layer 55–70 km with a precision of 14 m/s. A good agreement with ECMWF operational reanalysis is found. We show that microwave remote sensing is an appropriate technique to fill the current experimental data gap in lower mesospheric winds. Precise wind measurements are of need to improve atmosphere circulation models and medium range weather forecasts.