Bistatic auroral radar system and three-receiver-ionospheric-motions velocities: A comparison

Journal Article · Sat Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1990

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/JA095iA09p15219· OSTI ID:5444373

MacDougall, J W; Hall, G E; Moorcroft, D R ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Western Ontario, London (Canada)

Observations of the NW-SE component of F region convection obtained with a scintillation drift experiment have been compared with power and Doppler velocity measurements of auroral E region coherent backscatter at 50 MHz made with the Bistatic Auroral Radar System (BARS), which is able to observe only at large magnetic aspect angles. It was found that E region backscatter was observed only when the NW-SE component of the F region drift was in the SE direction. This and other observations are shown to be consistent with a recently proposed explanation for these large aspect angle VHF backscatter observations, based on refraction through auroral ionization structures in the E region. In most cases the vector velocity derived from BARS observations had a magnitude substantially below that inferred from the scintillation measurements. Observations during one period were noticeably different from the others, with unusually small Doppler velocities.

• OSTI ID: 5444373
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640201* -- Atmospheric Physics-- Auroral
Ionospheric
& Magetospheric Phenomena
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
AURORAL ZONES
BACKSCATTERING
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
CONVECTION
E REGION
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
ENERGY TRANSFER
EVALUATION
F REGION
HEAT TRANSFER
IONIZATION
IONOSPHERE
MASS TRANSFER
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
MOTION
PLANETARY IONOSPHERES
PLASMA DRIFT
RADAR
RANGE FINDERS
REFRACTION
SCATTERING
SCINTILLATIONS
VELOCITY