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- ItemClimatology of northern polar latitude MLT dynamics: Mean winds and tides(Göttingen : Copernicus, 2010) Kumar, G.K.; Hocking, W.K.Mean winds and tides in the northern polar Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere (MLT) have been studied using meteor radars located at Resolute Bay (75° N, 95° W) and Yellowknife (62.5° N, 114.3° W). The measurements for Resolute Bay span almost 12 years from July 1997 to February 2009 and the Yellowknife data cover 7 years from June 2002 to October 2008. The analysis reveals similar wind flow over both sites with a difference in magnitude. The summer zonal flow is westward at lower heights, eastward at upper heights and the winter zonal flow is eastward at all heights. The winter meridional flow is poleward and sometimes weakly equatorward, while non winter months show equatorward flow, with a strong equatorward jet during mid-summer months. The zonal and meridional winds show strong interannual variation with a dominant annual variation as well as significant latitudinal variation. Year to year variability in both zonal and meridional winds exists, with a possible solar cycle dependence. The diurnal, semidiurnal and terdiurnal tides also show large interannual variability and latitudinal variation. The diurnal amplitudes are dominated by an annual variation. The climatological monthly mean winds are compared with CIRA 86, GEWM and HWM07 and the climatological monthly mean amplitudes and phases of diurnal and semidiurnal tides are compared with GSWM00 predictions. The GEWM shows better agreement with observations than the CIRA 86 and HWM07. The GSWM00 model predictions need to be modified above 90 km. The agreements and disagreements between observations and models are discussed. © 2010 Author(s).
- ItemOn microphysical processes of noctilucent clouds (NLC): Observations and modeling of mean and width of the particle size-distribution(Göttingen : Copernicus, 2010) Baumgarten, G.; Fiedler, J.; Rapp, M.Noctilucent clouds (NLC) in the polar summer mesopause region have been observed in Norway (69° N, 16° E) between 1998 and 2009 by 3-color lidar technique. Assuming a mono-modal Gaussian size distribution we deduce mean and width of the particle sizes throughout the clouds. We observe a quasi linear relationship between distribution width and mean of the particle size at the top of the clouds and a deviation from this behavior for particle sizes larger than 40 nm, most often in the lower part of the layer. The vertically integrated particle properties show that 65% of the data follows the linear relationship with a slope of 0.42±0.02 for mean particle sizes up to 40 nm. For the vertically resolved particle properties (Δz = Combining double low line 0.15 km) the slope is comparable and about 0.39±0.03. For particles larger than 40 nm the distribution width becomes nearly independent of particle size and even decreases in the lower part of the layer. We compare our observations to microphysical modeling of noctilucent clouds and find that the distribution width depends on turbulence, the time that turbulence can act (cloud age), and the sampling volume/time (atmospheric variability). The model results nicely reproduce the measurements and show that the observed slope can be explained by eddy diffusion profiles as observed from rocket measurements. © 2010 Author(s).
- ItemMAARSY - the new MST radar on Andøya/Norway(Göttingen : Copernicus, 2010) Latteck, R.; Singer, W.; Rapp, M.; Renkwitz, T.The Leibniz-Institute of Atmospheric Physics in Kühlungsborn, Germany (IAP) is installing a new powerful VHF radar on the North-Norwegian island Andøya (69.30° N, 16.04° E) in 2009/2010. The new Middle Atmosphere Alomar Radar System (MAARSY) replaces the existing ALWIN radar which has been operated continuously on Andøya for more than 10 years. The new system is a monostatic radar operated at 53.5MHz with an active phased array antenna consisting of 433 Yagi antennas. The 3- element Yagi antennas are arranged in an equilateral triangle grid forming a circular aperture of approximately 6300m2. Each individual antenna is connected to its own transceiver with independent phase control and a scalable output up to 2 kW. This arrangement allows very high flexibility of beam forming and beam steering with a symmetric radar beam of a minimum half power beam width of 3.6°, a maximum directive gain of 33.5 dB and a total transmitted peak power of approximately 800kW. The IF signals of each 7 transceivers connected to each 7 antennas arranged in a hexagon are combined to 61 receiving channels. Selected channels or combinations of IF signals are sent to a 16-channel data acquisition system with 25 m sampling resolution and 16-bit digitization specified which will be upgraded to 64 channels in the final stage. The high flexibility of the new system allows classical Doppler beam swinging as well as experiments with simultaneously formed multiple beams and the use of modern interferometric applications for improved studies of the Arctic atmosphere from the troposphere up to the lower thermosphere with high spatiotemporal resolution. © 2010 Author(s).
- ItemDistortion of meteor count rates due to cosmic radio noise and atmospheric particularities(Göttingen : Copernicus, 2010) Stober, G.; Jacobi, C.; Keuer, D.The determination of the meteoroid flux is still a scientifically challenging task. This paper focusses on the impact of extraterrestrial noise sources as well as atmospheric phenomena on the observation of specular meteor echoes. The effect of cosmic radio noise on the meteor detection process is estimated by computing the relative difference between radio loud and radio quiet areas and comparing the monthly averaged meteor flux for fixed signal-to-noise ratios or fixed electron line density measurements. Related to the cosmic radio noise is the influence of D-layer absorption or interference with sporadic E-layers, which can lead to apparent day-to-day variation of the meteor flux of 15-20%. © 2010 Author(s).
- ItemA modified index for the description of the ionospheric short- and long-term activity(Göttingen : Copernicus, 2010) Mielich, J.; Bremer, J.A modified ionospheric activity index AI has been developed on the basis of ionospheric foF2 observations. Such index can be helpful for an interested user to get information about the current state of the ionosphere. Using ionosonde data of the station Juliusruh (54.6° N; 13.4°E) this index has been tested for the time interval from January 1996 until December 2008. This index has no diurnal and seasonal variations, only a small positive dependence on the solar activity could be found. The variability of this index has, however, a marked seasonal variability with maxima during the equinoxes, a clear minimum in summer, and enhanced values in winter. The observed variability of AI is strongly correlated with the geomagnetic activity, most markedly during the equinoxes, whereas the influence of the solar activity is markedly smaller and mostly insignificant. Strong geomagnetic disturbances cause in middle latitudes in general negative disturbances in AI, mostly pronounced during equinoxes and summer and only partly during winter, thus in agreement with the current physical knowledge about ionospheric storms. © 2010 Author(s).