Meteor observations with an MF radar

• Tsutsumi Masaki

  National Institute of Polar Research

• Holdsworth David

  Atmospheric Radar Systems

• Nakamura Takuji

  Radio Atmospheric Science Center, Kyoto University

• Reid Iain

  University of Adelaide

Abstract

We conducted meteor echo observations using the Buckland Park MF radar (35°S, 138°E) at 00:40-05:45 LT on October 22, 1997. In addition to the usual full correlation analysis (FCA) technique to measure horizontal wind velocities from 60 to 100 km MF radars have a potential to detect meteor echoes and infer winds through their Doppler frequency shifts. Because of the relatively low radio frequency employed MF radars have a great advantage of providing meteor wind well above 100 km altitude, where very few techniques can measure wind velocities. There is a limitation which should be noted as well. The observations are possible only during night time when the electron density of E-region is low enough for the radio wave to penetrate into the upper region. We detected 233 underdense meteor echoes from 80 km to 120 km with a mean height of 104.4 km. Although the transmitting antenna beams were steered toward off-zenith angles of 25°, almost all the echoes were received outside of the main lobe, indicating that conventional MF radar systems with a broad transmitting beam can work well for meteor observations. Bi-hourly wind profiles were obtained from 94 to 114 km altitudes. The profiles revealed a clear wave structure with a downward phase progression with time. FCA winds from 80 to 100 km were also estimated, and a continuous wind structure was obtained from FCA to meteor heights. Note that the present observations happened to be conducted during a major meteor shower activity. However, a majority of the underdense echoes were from non-shower meteors, and observations during non-shower periods will also yield enough information.

Journal

• Earth, Planets and Space

  Earth, Planets and Space 51 (7-8), 691-699, 1999

  Society of Geomagnetism and Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences, The Seismological Society of Japan, The Volcanological Society of Japan , The Geodetic Society of Japan , The Japanese Society for Planetary Sciences

Keywords

• Space and Planetary Science
• Geology

Details

• CRID: 1390282681487486976
• NII Article ID: 10002697729
• NII Article ID: 130003956022
• NII Book ID: AA11211921
• DOI: 10.1186/bf03353227
• ISSN: 18805981
• ISSN: 13438832
• NDL BIB ID: 4863993
• Web Site: https://ndlsearch.ndl.go.jp/books/R000000004-I4863993
• Web Site: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186/BF03353227.pdf
• Web Site: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/BF03353227/fulltext.html
• Web Site: http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186/BF03353227
• Text Lang: en
• Data Source:
  • JaLC
  • NDL
  • Crossref
  • CiNii Articles
• Abstract License Flag: Disallowed