CEDAR: Thermospheric Coupling with the Lower Atmosphere Using Lidar and CEDAR Instrument Cluster at Millstone Hill

该项目完成了米尔斯通山天文台的瑞利-多普勒激光雷达系统的开发，并在现有仪表组的一部分中运行。仪器组合包括激光雷达系统、非相干散射雷达、法布里-珀罗涉仪、流星风雷达和光学层析成像仪。这些数据增进了对中间层和较低热层之间过渡高度潮汐变化来源的了解。激光雷达仪器使用麻省理工学院林肯实验室火塘直径1.2米的全转向望远镜，因为该望远镜的操纵性允许在夜间进行长达86公里的全向量风测量，有可能在白天观测到较低的高度。该仪表组在大约30至130公里的整个高度范围内以高分辨率测量密度、温度和风，从而极大地将当前的观测扩展到源区和重要的潮汐传播路径，在那里潮汐幅度被调制。同时收集的昼夜多普勒风和温度数据阐明了重力波(GW)耗散对潮汐结构变化的贡献。这些测量还检验了发展中的中层逆温层和中低层纬向风急流之间的预期相关性，这两者都可能是由重力波耗散过程引起的。

This project completes development of a Rayleigh-Doppler lidar system at the Millstone Hill Observatory, and operates in part of an existing instrument cluster. The instrument cluster includes the lidar system, an incoherent scatter radar, a Fabry-Perot interferometer, a meteor wind radar, and an optical tomographic imaging instrument. The data improves understanding of sources of tidal variability in the altitude of transition between the mesosphere and lower thermosphere. The lidar instrument uses the MIT Lincoln Laboratory Firepond 1.2 meter diameter, fully-steerable telescope, as the telescope's steerability allows full vector wind measurements up to 86 km at night, with a potential for daytime observations to lower altitudes. The instrument cluster measures density, temperature, and winds with high resolution over roughly the entire altitude range from about 30 to 130 km, thus greatly extending current observations into the source region and into the important tidal propagation path, where the tidal amplitudes are modulated. Simultaneous Doppler wind and temperature data collected for both day and night clarifies the role that gravity wave (GW) dissipation has in contributing to the variability of tidal structure. These measurements are also examined for the expected correlation between the developing mesosphere temperature inversion layer and the forcing of the lower mesosphere zonal wind jet that may both be caused by gravity wave dissipation processes.