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The structure and dynamics of polar mesosphere summer echoes observed with the EISCAT 224 MHz radar
Author(s) -
Röttger Jürgen,
La Hoz Cesar,
Kelley Michael C.,
Hoppe UlfPeter,
Hall Chris
Publication year - 1988
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/gl015i012p01353
Subject(s) - mesosphere , polar , radar , backscatter (email) , amplitude , gravity wave , geophysics , atmospheric sciences , turbulence , incoherent scatter , geology , scattering , ionosphere , physics , gravitational wave , meteorology , optics , astrophysics , astronomy , stratosphere , telecommunications , computer science , wireless
The EISCAT 224 MHz radar was operated in a high spectral resolution mode to study polar mesosphere summer echoes. Intermittent and localized scattering regions of less than 1 km thickness were observed. Gravity waves were present, which were occasionally steepened. Turbulent velocity fluctuations were not obviously related to certain phases of the observed short‐period gravity waves. We explain the large signal amplitudes of these polar mesosphere summer echoes to result from backscatter due to electron density variations, which extend to scales shorter than the scales of neutral turbulence.