Thermospheric wind and temperature fields observed using two ground based all-sky imaging Fabry-Perot spectrometers in Antarctica

During the austral summer of 2015-2016 two new all-sky imaging Fabry-Perot spectrometers were installed in Antarctica to measure wind and temperature fields in the lower and middle thermosphere, at heights spanning a range from approximately 110 to 240 km altitude. The instruments are located at McMurdo and South Pole stations, both of which are typically near the equatorward edge of the polar cap under quiet to moderate levels of activity. Automated nightly observations began in March (McMurdo) and April (South Pole) of 2016. The instruments record Doppler spectra of the thermospheric oxygen 558 nm green line and 630 nm red line emissions. They view the sky down to around 70 degrees zenith angle, with this field being divided in software into 115 sub-regions, each of which gives an independent measure of Doppler temperature and line-of-sight wind. Typical integration times are one to several minutes. Here we will present an overview of the results obtained during this first season, including both climatological averages and examples of data from individual days. The overall behavior is generally as expected, with winds blowing approximately antisunward at all local times. However substantial local perturbations about this mean flow occur frequently, and are seen to be collocated with regions of strong ion convection observed by the SuperDARN radar network, and with regions of bright aurora, as observed by the Fabry-Perot instruments themselves, and by the SSUSI instruments aboard the DMSP F16 to F18 satellites. F-region neutral temperatures recorded on most days are spatially uniform and slowly varying in time. However very significant spatial and temporal temperature variations are observed during times of geomagnetic disturbance. Wave activity is also very a very common feature of the observed wind fields. These results are morphologically quite different to the behavior seen by similar instruments located in the northern hemisphere auroral zone. Reasons for these differences will be discussed.