M. F. Larsen

The SEEK Chemical Release Experiment: Observed neutral wind profile in a region of sporadic E

Wind measurements made with the chemical release technique during a sporadic E layer event are presented. The data were obtained as part of the Sporadic E Experiment over Kyushu (SEEK) sounding rocket campaign. The winds show a strong maximum in the lower E region approaching 150 m s−1 near 105-km altitude and a large shear below the maximum. The large shear was within a few kilometers altitude of the peak in the electron densities measured on the downleg of the rocket trajectory. Calculations of the Richardson numbers for the wind profile show that the altitude range near the layer was highly unstable.

VHF radar interferometry measurements of vertical velocity and the effect of tilted refractivity surfaces on standard Doppler measurements

At VHF wavelengths, aspect sensitivity may result in an apparent beam direction that is off vertical even for a nominally vertically pointing beam direction if the refractivity surfaces responsible for the scatter are tilted with respect to the horizontal plane. Middle and upper atmosphere radar measurements obtained by using the system in a standard multireceiver configuration typical for radar interferometry (RI) and spaced antenna measurements have been analyzed for evidence of such effects. The analysis is based on the linear variation of the cross-spectral phase as a function of the radial velocity in the frequency domain for the RI cross spectra. True-vertical velocity estimates are obtained by using the fact that the phase difference between two antennas should be equal to zero when the echoes are being received from the vertical direction. The tilt angles of the refractivity surfaces were obtained from the phase of the cross-correlation function at zero lag, and the radial velocity in that direction was determined from the cross spectra. The results indicate that the vertical velocity derived from standard Doppler analyses is actually the velocity perpendicular to the refractivity surfaces and thus can be biased by the projection of the horizontal wind along the effective pointing direction.

JULIA radar studies of electric fields in the equatorial electrojet

First results from the JULIA radar at Jicamarca are presented. These include coherent scatter observations of the equatorial electrojet and of 150-km echoes. Interferometry is used to measure the zonal drift rate of kilometer scale waves in the electrojet as functions of altitude. A technique for estimating the background zonal electric field from the interferometry data is described. The electric field estimates can be calibrated against the Doppler speed of the 150-km echoes when the latter are present. The kilometer-scale wave drifts sometimes exhibit large-amplitude, periodic height variations with vertical wavelengths of about 10 km. These signatures are reminiscent of the wind profiles measured with chemical release techniques in the lower thermosphere during the Guara campaign.

Observations of a Reversal in Long-Term Average Vertical Velocities near the Jet Stream Wind Maximum

Abstract Analysis of vertical velocity measurements made for four days each month over the period from 1986 to 1988 by the MU radar in Japan shows a reversal in direction near the peak in the zonal wind profile during the winter months. More specifically, the reversal is noted during periods when the peak horizontal wind speeds 60 m s−1. The vertical velocities associated with the circulation have magnitudes of 10-20 cm s−1, and the depth of the circulation is of the order of several kilometers. In 6 out of 14 cases when the feature was observed, the direction of the vertical circulation, although not the magnitude, could be explained by adiabatic ascent or subsidence along the average potential temperature surface slopes for the observation intervals. The direction of the circulation was such that it would tend to produce cooling and heating for the ascent and subsidence, respectively, that would tend to strengthen or at least maintain the jet. In the remaining eight cases, the direction of the vertical ...

Structures in sporadic‐E observed with an impedance probe during the SEEK Campaign: Comparisons with neutral‐wind and radar‐echo observations

In order to clarify the origin of the so-called quasi periodic echoes (QPE) that have been often detected by radar observations in the presence of sporadic-E (Es) layers in the nighttime midlatitude ionosphere, two sounding rockets were launched during the SEEK (Sporadic-E Experiment over Kyushu) campaign. Each rocket carried a swept-frequency impedance probe to measure the E-region electron-density (Ne) profile. Using the four Ne profiles obtained during the two rocket flights together with a neutral-wind profile obtained from a trimethyl aluminum (TMA) chemical release experiment on one of the rockets and QPE obtained with a ground-based radar, we consider the role of wind shear in the formation of the observed Es layers, and the question of whether QPE are associated with Es layers that are modulated in altitude. The Ne profiles of Es structures that were obtained in the presence of QPE were characterized by the highly concentrated thin layers. The formation of such a thin layer by a neutral-wind shear process was confirmed in comparison with the TMA measurements. The peak Ne values of the Es layers ranged from 2.2 to 9.3 × 104 el/cm³ near 100-km altitude. These primary Es layers were accompanied by significant secondary structures that were located about 12 to 20 km above the main Es layers and had peak Ne that ranged from 5.2 × 10³ to 1.3×104 el/cm³. The average altitude profiles of QPE approximately covered the range where the Es-layer peaks appeared. Our principal finding is that the observed Es structures tended to resemble horizontally stratified layers rather than structures with deep altitude modulation like previous QPE model, although the rocket measurements were separated from those by radar by 90 to 145 km.

Coqui 2: Mesospheric and lower thermospheric wind observations over Puerto Rico

During the 1998 Coqui 2 sounding rocket campaign, three chemical release rockets were launched from Puerto Rico to measure the wind profiles in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere region. The first release took place on February 19, and the next two releases were five days later and four hours apart. All three measurements show large winds and wind shears in the altitude range between 95 and 110 km. The largest wind speeds occurred near 100 km with horizontal flow velocities close to 150 m s−1. Taken in isolation, such features may appear to be unusual, but in fact, a large number of earlier rocket measurements show wind features similar to those observed in the Coqui 2 campaign. Such large winds are therefore not an isolated but rather a common feature of the wind profiles at midlatitudes in an altitude range that is critical for the electrodynamics of the ionosphere. The wind profile characteristics described here are not generally well known since the earlier more extensive chemical release data sets were only published in reports with a rather limited distribution.

Poststatistic steering wind estimation in the troposphere and lower stratosphere

Poststatistic steering (PSS) techniques are applied for estimating the wind vector. Since spatially separated receivers can be used to synthesize a radar beam in an arbitrary direction, Doppler beam swinging (DBS) techniques can be used in conjunction with PSS to obtain estimates of the wind vector. Data obtained with the middle and upper atmosphere (MU) radar in Japan are used to implement the technique in the troposphere and lower stratosphere at a VHF wavelength. To obtain an accurate estimate of the beam-pointing direction, the synthesized two-way antenna pattern is calculated. Also, the effects of aspect sensitivity on this technique are explored. The mode of operation of the MU radar was alternated between a typical DBS mode and a spatial interferometric (SI) mode, which was used for the PSS technique. Results from the PSS method of obtaining the wind vector are compared to the DBS results, which are assumed to be an accurate representation of the atmospheric wind. This study suggests that aspect sensitivity causes an underestimate of the horizontal wind using PSS. Corrections were made using the aspect sensitivity functions obtained from the DBS experiment and the corrected PSS velocities compare well with the DBS velocities. The vertical velocity estimate using a vertically pointing beam is shown to possess a gravity wave characteristic which is due solely to contamination from the horizontal wind.

Observations of a Tropical Thunderstorm Using a Vertically Pointing, Dual-Frequency, Collinear Beam Doppler Radar

Abstract This paper describes an investigation of a thunderstorm that occurred in the summer of 1991 over the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center in Arecibo, Puerto Rico. Observations were made using collinear dual-wavelength Doppler radars, which permit virtually simultaneous observation of the same pulse volume using transmission and reception of coherent UHF and VHF signals on alternate pulses. This made it possible to directly measure the vertical wind within the sampling volume using the VHF signal while using the UHF signal to study the nature of the precipitation. The observed storm showed strong similarities with systems observed in the Global Atmospheric Research Programs Atlantic Tropical Experiment study. Since this experiment can determine the various microphysical parameters, such as the vertical air velocity, the mean fall speeds of the precipitation, and the reflectivity, the relationships between these parameters that have been postulated in past studies can be tested. For example, i...

Sporadic E layer observations over Arecibo using coherent and incoherent scatter radar: Assessing dynamic stability in the lower thermosphere

[1] A patchy sporadic E ionization layer was observed using the 430 MHz incoherent scatter radar at the Arecibo Radio Observatory and a new, 30 MHz coherent scatter radar imager located on St. Croix. The former measured state parameters of the layer (plasma density, temperature, and composition) while the latter observed small-scale plasma waves and the associated quasiperiodic (QP) echoes. Regularization was used to estimate horizontal vector ion drifts from Arecibo line-of-sight data. Assuming the ion temperatures and drifts to be representative of the neutral atmospheric temperatures and drifts in the mesosphere lower-thermosphere (MLT) region, we evaluated the Richardson number criterion for neutral dynamic instability in regions occupied by the layers. We find that the condition for instability was generally satisfied and thus that dynamic instability is consistent with the layer breakup. The electrodynamics of the resulting patchy layers could then give rise to the QP echoes.

An Analysis Technique for Deriving Vector Winds and In-Beam Incidence Angles from Radar Interferometer Measurements

Abstract We present a method for deriving horizontal velocities, vertical velocities, and in-beam incidence angles from radar interferometer data. All parameters are calculated from the slope and intercept of straight lines fitted in a least-squares sense to the variation of the signal phase as a function of radial velocity for each pair of receiving antennas. Advantages of the method are that the calculations are computationally fast and simple, and the analysis leads to relatively simple expressions for the uncertainty in the velocity measurements.