Publication Date:
2015-04-22
Description:
Specular meteor radars (SMRs) have become a widely used tool to observe horizontal winds at the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT). Typically 30- to 120-minute mean winds are obtained assuming horizontal homogeneity of the observed area (i.e., few hundreds of kilometers radius). The quality of the measured wind velocity vector depends on the number of detected meteors per altitude and time bins. In order to improve the wind measurements of typical SMRs, here we propose a multi-static and multi-frequency approach, that consists mainly on adding GPS synchronized receiving stations with interferometric capabilities to existing SMRs. Compared to typical SMRs operating in a monostatic mode, our new approach called MMARIA (Multi-static and Multi-frequency Agile Radar for Investigations of the Atmosphere), allow us to: (a) increase the number of meteors using the same transmitter (by more than 70%), (b) increase the altitudinal coverage by 5–10 km higher depending on the geometry used, and (c) derive the horizontal wind field in the observed volume, by relaxing the assumption of homogeneity. The latter result is facilitated by having common volume observations from at least two different viewing angles. We show the feasibility of these three goals, from measurements at two different frequencies using a MMARIA configuration between Juliusruh and Kühlungsborn in northern Germany.
Print ISSN:
0048-6604
Electronic ISSN:
1944-799X
Topics:
Geosciences
,
Physics
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