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Cupri observations of PMSE during Salvo B of NLC‐91: Evidence of both partial reflection and turbulent scatter

1993; American Geophysical Union; Volume: 20; Issue: 20 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1029/93gl01600

1944-8007

John Y. N. Cho, Wesley E. Swartz, M. C. Kelley, Clark A. Miller,

Atmospheric Ozone and Climate

During the first rocket sequence (called Salvo B) of the NLC‐91 campaign, the Cornell University Portable Radar Interferometer (CUPRI) observed two simultaneously occurring layers of Polar Mesosphere Summer Echoes (PMSE). During the time of the Turbo B flight, the high time‐resolution CUPRI Doppler spectra exhibited sawtooth‐like discontinuities in the lower layer which we interpret to be a distorted partial reflection layer which was advected across the radar beam. The upper layer, on the other hand, appeared to be caused by turbulent scatter and we estimate the turbulence energy dissipation rate in the upper layer at the time of the Turbo B flight to have been approximately 0.04 W/kg. Furthermore, a shift in the antenna beam direction from vertical to 8° off zenith revealed an aspect sensitivity of approximately 5 dB in the lower layer but none in the upper layer. We conclude that, at this particular time, turbulent scatter was responsible for the upper layer while some form of partial reflection was dominant in the lower layer.