First detection of a noctilucent cloud by lidar

Journal Article · Fri Dec 01 00:00:00 EST 1989 · Geophysical Research Letters (American Geophysical Union); (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/GL016i012p01445· OSTI ID:5609905

Hansen, G; Serwazi, M; von Zahn, U ^[1]

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1. Universitaet Bonn (West Germany)

During the night of August 5/6, 1989 for the first time a noctilucent cloud (NLC) was detected and measured by a lidar instrument. The observations were made with ground-based narrow-band Na lidar located at Andenes, Norway (69{degree}N, 16{degree}E geographic coordinates). In wavelength the lidar was operated both at the Na D{sub 2} resonance line of 589 nm as well as 5 Doppler widths shifted away. The altitude resolution was 200 m. The NLC developed at about 22:20 UT, reached its maximum backscatter cross section at 23:05 UT and became unobservable at around 00:10 UT. During this period the NLC exhibited the following properties: (a) its altitude ranged between 83.4 and 82.2 km; (b) its full width at half maximum ranged between 1.4 and 0.3 km; (c) the ratio of measured backscatter intensity from the NLC to the calculated Rayleigh signal from 82.6 km reached 450; (d) its volume backscatter cross section maximized at 6.5 {times} 10{sup {minus}9} m{sup {minus}1} sr{sup {minus}1}.

• OSTI ID: 5609905
• Journal Information: Geophysical Research Letters (American Geophysical Union); (USA), Vol. 16:12; ISSN 0094-8276
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
CLOUDS
DETECTION
OPTICAL RADAR
PERFORMANCE
ALTITUDE
DOPPLER EFFECT
LATITUDE EFFECT
NORWAY
RAYLEIGH SCATTERING
SODIUM
WAVELENGTHS
ALKALI METALS
COHERENT SCATTERING
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
ELEMENTS
EUROPE
GEOGRAPHICAL VARIATIONS
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
METALS
RADAR
RANGE FINDERS
SCANDINAVIA
SCATTERING
VARIATIONS
540110*