Target echo enhancement using a single-element time reversal mirror

Iterative Time Reversal (TR) procedures have been demonstrated to be successful in detecting scatterers even in a highly reverberant environment. The success of the method is attributable to a Time Reversal Mirror (TRM) consisting of an array of transceivers that allows one to reconstruct and reverse-propagate wavefronts of interest. This paper deals with the limiting case of a TRM reduced to a single transceiver, tested using a tank experiment with three scattering objects in free-field conditions. It is shown that it is possible to excite a resonance between the TR operator and the strongest mode of the target in the bandwidth of insonification. A simple free-field scattering model is used to study the mechanisms of convergence and to drive the physics-based analysis of data.     

Coordinated optical and radar image measurements of noctilucent clouds and polar mesospheric summer echoes

Novel coincident 3-D radar, lidar and optical image measurements of dynamical structures in polar mesosphere summer echoes (PMSE) and noctilucent clouds (NLC) are presented. Common volume mesospheric measurements were made over central Alaska using the new Poker Flat Incoherent Scatter Radar (PFISR), a co-located Rayleigh lidar and remote, two-station digital image observations, enabling the first detailed investigation of the horizontal and vertical structures of NLC and PMSE. Coincident measurements were made of an unusual NLC display recorded on 10–11 August 2007, characterized by a broad luminous band that contained several prominent wave forms. Concurrent lidar and image measurements established the presence of NLC within the radar volume from ～09:00 UT (01:00 LT), when the solar depression angle was 10.4°, until dawn. Strong but intermittent PMSE were detected by PFISR, with distinct patchy structures that exhibited a similar southward motion as the NLC. Detailed comparison of the 3-D PMSE structures and the NLC lidar and image data have revealed striking similarities when account was taken of the NLC layer altitude, suggesting a direct link between their small-scale spatial signatures (within the current resolution of the radar measurements). At the same time, the lidar detected a sustained increase in the backscatter signal, while the imagers revealed the development of copious short horizontal wavelength (4.9 km) billow waves. We conclude that strong wind shears associated with the Kelvin–Helmholtz billow instabilities played a key role in the development of a neutral turbulence layer in close proximity to the NLC layer resulting in the strong but intermittent PMSE detected at 450 MHz on this occasion.     

Using refracted shear waves for velocity estimation

The most difficult part of multicomponent processing is the estimation of the shear-wave velocity map for migration. We used refracted shear waves and a simple iterative method called wavefield continuation (WFC) to evaluate the shallow shear-wave velocity profile on a real data example. The WFC was developed in 1981 by Clayton and McMechan to determine compressional-wave velocity profiles from refracted compressional waves. The application to refracted shear waves is straightforward. The real data example shows that shear structure can be easily determined independently of the compressional structure.     

Near-infrared sky background fluctuations at mid- and low latitudes

The emission of the upper atmosphere introduces an additional variable component into observations of astronomical objects in the NIR 700–3,000 nm range. The subtraction of this component is not easy because it varies during the night by as much as 100% and it is not homogeneous over the sky. A program aimed at measuring and understanding the main characteristics of the atmospheric NIR emission was undertaken. A 512?×?512 CCD camera equipped with a RG780/2 mm filter is used to obtain images of the sky in a 36°?×?36° field of view. The intensities of a given star and of the nearby region devoid of star in a 439 arcmin² area are monitored during periods of time of several hours. The sky intensity measured in the 754–900 nm bandpass, reduced to zenith and zero airmass is comprised between mag20 and mag18.5 per arcsecond². A diminution by a factor of two during the night is frequently observed. Intensity fluctuations having an amplitude of 15% and periods of 5–40 min are present in the images with a structure of regularly spaced stripes. The fluctuations of the NIR sky background intensity are due to (1) the chemical evolution of the upper atmosphere composition during the night and (2) dynamical processes such as tides with periods of 3–6 h or gravity waves with periods of several tens of minutes. We suggest that a monitoring of the sky background intensity could be set up when quantitative observations of astronomical objects require exposure times longer than ~10 min. The publication is illustrated with several video films accessible on the web site http://www.obs-besancon.fr/nirsky/. Enter username: nirsky and password: skynir.