Coordinated optical and radar image measurements of noctilucent clouds and polar mesospheric summer echoes |
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| Authors: | M.J. Taylor Y. Zhao P.-D. Pautet M.J. Nicolls R.L. Collins J. Barker-Tvedtnes C.D. Burton B. Thurairajah J. Reimuller R.H. Varney C.J. Heinselman K. Mizutani |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Center for Atmospheric and Space Sciences, Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA;2. Center for Geospace Studies, SRI International, Menlo Park, CA, USA;3. Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK, USA;4. Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA;5. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA;6. Environment Sensing and Network Group, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Tokyo, Japan;1. CoRA, NWRA, Boulder, CO 80301, USA;2. SRI International, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA;3. SRI International, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA;4. MIT Haystack Observatory, Westford MA 01886, USA;1. Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA;2. Computational Physics Inc., Boulder, CO 80301, USA;3. Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics and Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80303, USA;1. Leibniz-Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Kühlungsborn, Germany;2. Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, Institut für Physik der Atmosphäre, Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany;3. Meteorologisches Institut München, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany;1. Belgian Nuclear Research Centre, Boeretang 200, 2400 Mol, Belgium;2. Belgian Agency for Radioactive Waste and Enriched Fissile Materials (ONDRAF/NIRAS), Avenue des Arts 14, 1210 Brussels, Belgium;1. Institute of Environmental Systems Research, School of Mathematics/Computer Science, Osnabrück University, Barbarastr. 12, 49076 Osnabrück, Germany;2. Institute of Physics, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-University of Greifswald, Felix-Hausdorff-Str. 6, 17489 Greifswald, Germany;3. Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy, Ringlaan-3-Avenue Circulaire, B-1180 Brussels, Belgium;1. Space Science Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375, USA;2. Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Leopoldshafen, Germany;3. School of Physics, Astronomy and Computational Sciences, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA;4. Laboratory of Atmospheric and Space Physics and Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA;5. Center for Atmospheric Sciences, Hampton University, Hampton, VA, USA;6. Department of Earth and Space Sciences, Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg, Sweden |
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| Abstract: | 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. |
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