US-Germany workshop on catalyzing development of a multistatic meteor radar for lower thermospheric and mesospheric wind fields

University Of Colorado At Boulder, Boulder CO

Investigators

Abstract

Part 1 Recently, an improvement to the well-established Traditional Specular Meteor Radar technique has been proposed with remarkable potential for both new and improved geophysical science data. The Multistatic Specular Meteor Radar (MSMR) utilizes a networked array of receivers distributed over a geographic area. Specular meteor trail scatter originating from a single transmitter is observed at the various geographic locations enabling a dramatic increase in both the temporal and spatial resolution of the measured wind field. The activities proposed in this project include a workshop focused on the potential of this emerging technique for conducting new scientific studies on topics of meteor radar hardware, data analysis, atmospheric dynamics and meteor and plasma physics to discuss and vet the most promising MSMR science motivations and develop a plan for moving the technique forward. Until recently it was not possible to geographically separate the transmit and receive systems because very accurate (1 part in 100 million) frequency accuracy is required to measure the wind. With the advent of precision GPS oscillators it is now possible to geographically separate the receiver and transmitter and still have the capability to determine the winds. This advance has enabled the evolution of the Multistatic Specular Meteor Radar technique, which utilizes a single transmitter and an array of receivers distributed over a large geographic area. The data collected from this array provides a diversity of measurements that are not possible with the classical approach. As such this new measurement technique will create an opportunity to enable new scientific measurements and push the boundary of scientific discovery. Part 2 Hundreds of thousands of meteoroids enter the upper atmosphere each day. Travelling at 7km/s or faster nearly all of these meteoroids ablate in the lower thermosphere leaving a dense trail of electrons and ions for a short period of time. Very High Frequency (VHF) radio waves can be scattered from these plasma trails to probe the structure of the lower thermosphere. Parameters such as the horizontal wind velocity and the ambipolar diffusion coefficient can be extracted from these observations. The classical approach for observing meteors has been to use a monostatic meteor radar with a co-located transmitter and receiver. Recently improvements to the well-established traditional specular meteor radar technique has been proposed with remarkable potential for both new and improved geophysical science data. The Multistatic Specular Meteor Radar (MSMR) technique utilizes a networked array of receivers distributed over a geographic area of 40,000 square kilometers. Specular meteor trail scatter illuminated from an from single transmitter can be observed at various receiver locations enabling a dramatic increase in both the temporal and spatial resolution of the measured geophysical parameters. The proposed workshop will include a panel of experts on topics of meteor radar hardware, data analysis, atmospheric dynamics and meteor and plasma physics to discuss and vet the most promising MSMR science motivations and develop a plan for moving the technique forward. The second part of the project includes analysis of data from a proof-of-concept campaign using a software controled radar developed under the PI's NSF-CAREER grant. The collaboration will be established between the radar remote sensing groups at the University of Colorado, Boulder (UCB) and the Leibniz Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP) in Kuhlungsborn, Germany.