Project information
Project aim
Atmospheric VHF radars use VHF (Very High Frequency) band radio waves to measure atmospheric parameters such as wind speed and direction. They do this by transmitting radio pulses upwards and recording the extremely weak echoes that come from disturbances in the clear air. It is possible to measure the wind over a wide range of heights through the troposphere (up to around 10km; where the weather is) and the stratosphere (where the ozone layer lies) every few minutes. In this way, they are able to contribute to meteorology and atmospheric physics. The radar proposed for Davis will also be able to investigate and utilise polar mesosphere summer echoes (PMSE), an unusual polar phenomena that causes surprisingly strong echoes to be returned from near 86 km in the summer.
Related publications
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Climatological comparison of polar mesosphere summer echoes over the Arctic and Antarctica at 69°. Annales Geophysicae, 2024
(Ref: 17150)
Authors:Category 1: Peer-reviewed literature
Polar mesosphere summer echoes (PMSE) have been observed for more than 30 years with 50?MHz VHF radars at various locations in the Northern Hemisphere. Continuous observation of PMSE is conducted on the northern Norwegian island of Andøya (69.3°?N) using the ALWIN radar (1999–2008) and MAARSY…
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Using polar mesosphere summer echoes and stratospheric/mesospheric winds to explain summer mesopause jumps in Antarctica Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics, 2017
(Ref: 15902)
Category 1: Peer-reviewed literature
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Summer time Fe depletion in the Antarctic mesopause region Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics, 2015
(Ref: 15529)
Category 1: Peer-reviewed literature
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Winter/summer mesopause temperature transition at Davis (69°S) in 2011/2012 Geophysical Research Letters, 2014
(Ref: 15530)
Category 1: Peer-reviewed literature
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Lidar observations of gravity wave activity in the middle atmosphere over Davis (69°S, 78°E), Antarctica Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres, 2015
(Ref: 15532)
Category 1: Peer-reviewed literature