SGER: Daytime Optical and Radar Measurements at Millstone Hill Observatory

Clemson University, Clemson SC

Investigators

Abstract

The purpose of this SGER project is to support collaborative research to be carried out utilizing the Clemson University relocatable optical observatory and the radar and optical instrumentation at Millstone Hill Observatory. The Clemson optical observatory is equipped with two optical instruments: a triple etalon Fabry-Perot interferometer (designated as SOFDI) and an all sky imaging photometer. The plan is to locate the optical observatory at a location near Newport, Vermont for four months of remote operations from March to July of 2003. The objectives of the proposed collaboration are listed as follows: 1) to obtain and compare simultaneous optical and radar measurements of meridional winds and temperatures during the daytime, 2) to obtain and compare simultaneous optical and radar observations of ion temperatures and ion drifts during twilight periods, 3) to carry out simultaneous bistatic observations of mesospheric and thermospheric winds and temperatures during the night to examine possible correlation between mesosphere and thermosphere gravity wave activity, 4) to search for possible evidence of the hot oxygen corona through the detection of an anomalous broadening of the 732 nm spectral profile and to compare these results with Millstone Hill results, 5) to search for possible evidence of the daytime formation of auroral discrete arcs, 6) to obtain and compare mesospheric wind measurements obtained with the U. of New Hampshire meteor wind radar with the results from the FPI measurements of mesospheric winds. This collaborative series of observations would serve as an excellent field test of the new design represented by the SOFDI FPI instrument before the planned deployment of the Clemson relocatable optical observatory to the location of Huancayo, Peru. Only an SGER award can support such a window of opportunity of fielding the SOFDI close to an ISR, namely that at Millstone Hill.