CUPRI observations of PMSE during Salvo C of
NLC-91: Evidence of a depressed mesopause temperature
The Cornell University portable radar interferometer (CUPRI) observed
two extremely strong layers of polar summer mesosphere echoes (PMSE)
thirty minutes prior to the launch of Salvo C of the NLC-91 campaign.
The lower layer exhibited a S/N ratio of 42 dB (the second strongest
event of NLC-91), vertical velocities of a few m/s, and a narrow
spectral width, suggesting that it was the result of partial
reflections. The upper layer, in contrast, exhibited sinusoidal
structures in vertical velocity with peak amplitudes greater than +-10
m/s and wide spectral widths. These structures were observed to grow
and steepen with altitude until they broke and produced turbulent
radar scattering. We conclude that the rapid rate of growth of the
wave with altitude was the result of a depressed mesopause temperature
and a nearly adiabatic temperature gradient at PMSE heights and that
the simultaneous measurement of both a low mesopause temperature and
strong PMSE supports recent theories that find the presence of charged
aerosols to be the key to the unique radar cross sections associated
with PMSE.
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