Austral High-Latitude Mesospheric and Thermospheric Dynamics and Thermodynamics

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This award will continue the operation of a Fabry-Perot interferometer at South Pole for the purpose of measuring temperature and winds in the neutral atmosphere in the upper mesosphere and lower thermosphere (~100 Km altitude). The relative simplicity of the atmospheric conditions at the Pole makes it an ideal place to learn more about the mechanisms that drive the dynamical behavior of the upper atmosphere. At lower latitudes, the diurnal effects of heating and cooling and changes in the ionization caused by sunlight make the dynamical situation very complex; whereas, at the Pole these confounding effects are absent. Therefore, by comparing the two regions the global effects can be separated from the large daily signals. During the period of operation, the Thermospere, Ionosphere, Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED) satellite will be launched, and the South Pole measurements will complement those of the spacecraft.