Neutral Wind Measurement during Daytime in the Thermosphere

Rees, D.; Neal, M. Pinson; Low, C.H.; Hind, A. D.; Burrows, K.; Fitchew, R. S.

doi:10.1038/240032a0

Cited by 14 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 5 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Lithium and sodium have still been used for special applications, however. Lithium, for example, which produces an exceptionally bright resonant emission was used in several studies to measure the daytime neutral winds in the ionosphere [ Rees et al , 1972a; Bedinger , 1973a; Hind and Lloyd , 1974].…”

Section: Data Set Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Winds and shears in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere: Results from four decades of chemical release wind measurements

2002

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

[1] Since 1958, over 400 chemical tracer measurements have been made of the wind profiles in the upper mesosphere and lower thermosphere. The measurements cover a wide range of latitudes, longitudes, seasons, and local times. The results from the analysis of the data set show that a wind maximum in the altitude range between 100 and 110 km is a consistent feature of the observations at midlatitudes and low latitudes. The wind speed associated with the maximum exceeds 100 m s À1 in over 60% of the observations. Large shears are found, especially on the bottomside of the wind maximum, and the observed shears are often large enough to be either unstable or approaching instability. The wind maximum and shear features are characteristics of the overall data set and are not tied to particular observation sites, particular seasons, or special conditions. INDEX TERMS: 3369

show abstract

Section: Data Set Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Winds and shears in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere: Results from four decades of chemical release wind measurements

2002

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Recently, Bedinger (1970), Best (1970) and Rees et al (1972) have described various techniques, based on narrow pass band interference filters, which are able to detect lithium against the sky foreground in daytime. However, the detection of lithium is only part of the problem, since the determination of the wind profile of the upper atmosphere from the observed data also presents many difficulties.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Determination of the Daytime Thermospheric Wind Profile by Observing a Lithium Trail with a Field-of-view Scanner

Hind¹,

Lloyd²

1974

Aust. J. Phys.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A description is given of the design of an instrument which has been built to detect the lithium 671 nm line against the daytime sky continuum. The instrument covers the field of view by means of a servocontrolled scanning mirror and detects the lithium line by chopping the received beam and using phase sensitive detection. Data obtained for a daytime release of lithium between 90 and 130 Ian altitude are presented, and the methods for the analysis of these data to obtain a wind profile of the upper atmosphere are described. The derived wind profile is similar in its main features to those observed at twilight and night.

show abstract

“…Surface brightness of the tracer clouds is typically too low for them to be tracked during daylight -with some notable exceptions [e.g. Rees et al, 1972;Lloyd et al, 1977;Pfaff et al 2020. ] Night time tracking has the major benefit that angular look directions from the cameras to the target clouds can be absolutely calibrated with high accuracy using the images' background star fields.…”

Section: The Chemical Tracer Techniquementioning

confidence: 99%

Absolute Measurements of Neutral Winds and Ion Drifts in Earth’s Mesosphere and Thermosphere

Conde,

Hampton,

Larsen

et al. 2023

Bulletin of the AAS

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The height range from approximately 80 km to several hundred km in Earth's atmosphere is a transition region from mostly neutral dynamics at the lower altitudes to space-weather driven plasma dynamics at the top. It is an important region for many modern technological systems that either depend on spacecraft orbiting within it, or on radio signals passing through it. Traditional scale analysis of the governing equations for fluid dynamics in this region suggest that flows above about 110 km altitude should be smooth, laminar, and largely horizontal, with little spatial structure at shorter than synoptic length scales. However, when winds in this region are actually measured, such placid behavior is not observed. Understanding and accounting for this greater than expected dynamism requires measurements that are sampled locally and derived with absolute accuracy. Here it is argued that the best-known way to obtain such measurements is by trigonometric tracking of chemical tracer clouds deployed at altitude by a sounding rocket. We present a brief review of the technique, show some recent results, and discuss examples of important physical phenomena that require these measurements in order to advance current understanding. Finally, we note that the rocket-borne chemical tracer program is currently at risk of losing expertise gained over the previous several decades, and we encourage NASA to take steps to ensure that this expertise is preserved.

show abstract

Neutral Wind Measurement during Daytime in the Thermosphere

Cited by 14 publications

References 5 publications

Winds and shears in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere: Results from four decades of chemical release wind measurements

Winds and shears in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere: Results from four decades of chemical release wind measurements

A Determination of the Daytime Thermospheric Wind Profile by Observing a Lithium Trail with a Field-of-view Scanner

Absolute Measurements of Neutral Winds and Ion Drifts in Earth’s Mesosphere and Thermosphere

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About