Seasonal variability on atmospheric density measure using an orbital meteor radar
Abstract
Meteor radars observed on average, meteors in the 75-110 km altitude region with distributions peaking around 90 km. This is because, at these altitudes, the atmosphere is sufficiently dense to produce enough electrons through heating and ablation for meteors to be detected by radars. This offer a unique opportunity to use measured altitude distributions to learn how the atmospheric density varies with season. We utilize the Southern Argentina Agile Meteors Radar - Orbital System (SAAMER-OS) to study the seasonal variability of the observed meteor altitudes and derive how much is due to changes on the atmospheric density. While similar studies have been performed before, they have not been done with systems that enable the determination of orbits, and thus absolute velocity and entry angle, for each single detected meteor event. The fact that SAAMER-OS is a system that enables orbital determinations of meteors enable us to separate from our results changes that are due to the astronomical characteristics of the detected meteors and those are due to atmospheric density variability.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2020
- Bibcode:
- 2020AGUFMSA0010018H
- Keywords:
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- 0340 Middle atmosphere: composition and chemistry;
- ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE;
- 0355 Thermosphere: composition and chemistry;
- ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE;
- 3369 Thermospheric dynamics;
- ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSES;
- 2447 Modeling and forecasting;
- IONOSPHERE