Abstract. The Middle Atmosphere Alomar Radar System (MAARSY) on the island of Andøya in Northern Norway (69.3 • N, 16.0 • E) observes polar mesospheric summer echoes (PMSE). These echoes are used as tracers of atmospheric dynamics to investigate the horizontal wind variability at high temporal and spatial resolution. MAARSY has the capability of pulse-to-pulse beam steering allowing for systematic scanning experiments to study the horizontal structure of the backscatterers as well as to measure the radial velocities for each beam direction. Here we present a method to retrieve gravity wave parameters from these horizontally resolved radial wind variations by applying velocity azimuth display and volume velocity processing. Based on the observations a detailed comparison of the two wind analysis techniques is carried out in order to determine the zonal and meridional wind as well as to measure first-order inhomogeneities. Further, we demonstrate the possibility to resolve the horizontal wave properties, e.g., horizontal wavelength, phase velocity and propagation direction. The robustness of the estimated gravity wave parameters is tested by a simple atmospheric model.

Abstract. We present observations obtained with the Middle Atmosphere Alomar Radar System (MAARSY) to investigate short-period wave-like features using polar mesospheric summer echoes (PMSEs) as a tracer for the neutral dynamics. We conducted a multibeam experiment including 67 different beam directions during a 9-day campaign in June 2013. We identified two Kelvin–Helmholtz instability (KHI) events from the signal morphology of PMSE. The MAARSY observations are complemented by collocated meteor radar wind data to determine the mesoscale gravity wave activity and the vertical structure of the wind field above the PMSE. The KHIs occurred in a strong shear flow with Richardson numbers Ri < 0.25. In addition, we observed 15 wave-like events in our MAARSY multibeam observations applying a sophisticated decomposition of the radial velocity measurements using volume velocity processing. We retrieved the horizontal wavelength, intrinsic frequency, propagation direction, and phase speed from the horizontally resolved wind variability for 15 events. These events showed horizontal wavelengths between 20 and 40 km, vertical wavelengths between 5 and 10 km, and rather high intrinsic phase speeds between 45 and 85 m s−1 with intrinsic periods of 5–10 min.

We present measurements of the angular dependence of polar mesospheric summer echoes (PMSE) with the Middle Atmosphere Alomar Radar System in Northern Norway (69.30° N, 16.04° E). Our results are based on multireceiver and multibeam observations using beam pointing directions with off‐zenith angles up to 25° as well as on spatial correlation analysis (SCA) from vertical beam observations. We consider a beam filling effect at the upper and lower boundaries of PMSE in tilted beams, which determines the effective mean angle of arrival. Comparing the average power of the vertical beam to the oblique beams suggests that PMSE are mainly not as aspect sensitive as in contrast to previous studies. However, from SCA, times of enhanced correlation are found, indicating aspect sensitivity or a localized scattering mechanism. Our results suggest that PMSE consist of nonhomogeneous isotropic scattering and previously reported aspect sensitivity values might have been influenced by the inhomogeneous nature of PMSE.

The Middle Atmosphere Alomar Radar System (MAARSY) on the island Andøya in Northern Norway (69.3° N, 16.0° E) observes polar mesospheric summer echoes (PMSE). These echoes are used as tracers of atmospheric dynamics to investigate the horizontal wind variability at high temporal and spatial resolution. MAARSY has the capability of a pulse-to-pulse beam steering allowing for systematic scanning experiments to study the horizontal structure of the backscatterers as well as to measure the radial velocities for each beam direction. Here we present a method to retrieve gravity wave parameters from these horizontally resolved radial wind variations by applying velocity azimuth display and volume velocity processing. Based on the observations a detailed comparison of the two wind analysis techniques is carried out in order to determine the zonal and meridional wind as well as to measure first order inhomogeneities. Further, we demonstrate the possibility to resolve the horizontal wave properties, e.g. horizontal wavelength, phase velocity and propagation direction. The robustness of the estimated gravity wave parameters is tested by a simple atmospheric model

Abstract.A recent study has hypothesized that polar mesospheric summer echoes (PMSEs) might consist mainly of localized isotropic scattering. These results have been inferred from indirect measurements. Using radar imaging with the Middle Atmosphere Alomar Radar System (MAARSY), we observed horizontal structures that support our previous findings. We observe that small-scale irregularities, causing isotropic scattering, are organized in patches. We find that patches of PMSEs, as observed by the radar, are usually smaller than 1 km. These patches occur throughout the illuminated volume, supporting that PMSEs are caused by localized isotropic or inhomogeneous scattering. Furthermore, we show that imaging can be used to identify side lobe detections, which have a significant influence even for narrow beam observations. Improved spectra estimations are obtained by selecting the desired volume to study parameters such as spectral width and to estimate the derived energy dissipation rates. In addition, a combined wide beam experiment and radar imaging is used to resolve the radial velocity and spectral width at different volumes within the illuminated volume.

Abstract. We present observations of polar mesospheric summer echoes (PMSE) using the Middle Atmosphere Alomar Radar System in Northern Norway (69.30 • N, 16.04 • E). The radar is able to resolve PMSE at high spatial and temporal resolution and to perform pulse-to-pulse beam steering. In this experiment, 81 oblique beam directions were used with off-zenith angles up to 25 • . For each beam pointing direction and range gate, coherent radar imaging was applied to determine the mean backscatter location. The location of the mean scatterer in the beam volume was calculated by the deviation from the nominal off-zenith angle of the brightest pixel. It shows that in tilted beams with an off-zenith angle greater than 5 • , structures appear at the altitudinal edges of the PMSE layer. Our results indicate that the mean influence of the location of the maximum depends on the tilt of the beam and on the observed area of the PMSE layer. At the upper/lower edge of the PMSE layer, the mean backscatter has a greater/smaller off-zenith angle than the nominal offzenith angle. This effect intensifies with greater off-zenith beam pointing direction, so the beam filling factor plays an important role in the observation of PMSE layers for oblique beams.

We present observations of polar mesospheric summer echoes (PMSE) with an unprecedented temporal sampling of 2 ms and range resolution down to 75 m. On these time and spatial scales, PMSE exhibit features, like correlation in time and range, that have not been described before. To characterize our high resolution observations, we provide a 4‐D statistical model, based on random processes. In this way we can distinguish between geophysical and instrumental effects on our measurements. In our simulations, PMSE is statistically characterized in frequency, angular space, and inverse altitude. With this model, we are able to reproduce our observations on a statistical basis and estimate the intrinsic spectral width of PMSE. For chosen data sets, such values range between 0.5 Hz and 4 Hz (1.4 ms−1 to 11.2 ms−1). Furthermore, we show that apparent oscillations in time and an apparent high speed motion of the mean scattering center are just representations of the random nature of PMSE measurements on short time scales.

Abstract. The Middle Atmosphere Alomar Radar System (MAARSY) in Northern Norway (69.30°N, 16.04°E) was used to perform interferometric observations of Polar Mesosperic Summer Echoes (PMSE) in June 2012. Coherent Radar Imaging (CRI) using Capon's method was applied allowing a high spatial resolution. The algorithm was validated by simulation and trajectories of meteor head echoes. Both data sets show a good correspondence with the algorithm. Using this algorithm, the aspect sensitivity of PMSE was analysed in a case study, making use of the capability of CRI to resolve the pattern within the beam volume. No correction of the beam pattern was made yet. It was found in this case study, that no large variations in the scattering width and the scattering center occured apart from a very short period of time at the upper edge of the PMSE.