Tomographic Studies of Noctilucent Clouds

Limb-scanning satellites can provide global information about the vertical structure of polar mesospheric clouds. However, information about horizontal structures usually remains limited. This is due to both a long line of sight and a long scan duration. on six days during the northern hemisphere summer 2010, the Swedish-led Odin satellite was operated in a special mesospheric mode with short limb scans limited to altitude range of polar mesospheric clouds. For Odin's Optical Spectrograph and InfraRed Imager System (OSIRIS) this provides multiple views through a given cloud volume and, thus, a basis for tomographic analysis of the vertical/horizontal cloud structure. Here we present algorithms for tomographic analysis of mesospheric clouds based on maximum probability techniques. We present retrieved cloud structures and discuss underlying dynamical conditions. We also discuss perspectives towards the use of common volume measurements by Odin/OSIRIS and AIM/CIPS for combined tomographic retrievals.