Space and Atmospheric Science highlights

SAS in the spotlight

The Space and Atmospheric Science (SAS) group benefits from the experience that its staff has accumulated in a variety of fields. Radar physicists, astronomers and ionospheric physicists have come together to work toward a better understanding of our atmosphere. But it is hard to quell their enthusiasm for aspects of their broad background!

In June 2004, Dr. Andrew Klekociuk is facilitating Antarctic observations of the Transit of Venus. Observations as far south as Casey will be a valuable adjunct to the global data set.

And as part of our quest to know more about the global climate system, Polar Mesosphere Summer Echoes were measured for the first time in the southern hemisphere and their characteristics are being compared to those in the northern hemisphere.

There were a number of research highlights over the 2003/04 summer:

• Lidar observations have shown that Noctilucent cloud occurrence over Davis Station this summer have been more prevalent than in previous years.
• Latrobe University's new Fabry-Perot Spectrometer has been installed and commissioned at Davis.
• New material was added to the SAS web pages:
  • The Middle Atmosphere Climate pages have been reviewed
  • The sun produced the largest explosion ever recorded in our solar system.

Find out more about the Space & Atmospheric Sciences program and its place in the new Science Strategy.

For more information, email: sas@aad.gov.au