Lidar observations of mesospheric Fe and sporadic Fe layers at Urbana, IL

Journal Article · Thu Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 1990 · Geophysical Research Letters (American Geophysical Union); (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/GL017i002p00143· OSTI ID:6281779

Bills, R E; Gardner, C S ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (USA)

Lidar measurements of mesospheric Fe were conducted at Urbana, IL (40{degree}N, 88{degree}W) during 4 nights in late October 1989. The average Fe abundances, layer centroid heights and rms widths varied between 1.0-2.0{times}10{sup 10} cm{sup {minus}2}, 89.0-90.5 km and 3.2-4.1 km, respectively. The peak densities of the layer near 90 km varied between 15-25{times}10{sup 3} cm{sup {minus}3}. Considerable gravity wave and tidal activity was observed in the Fe profiles. On 3 nights the formation and dissipation of 3 large sporadic Fe (Fe{sub s}) layers was observed. These are the first observations of this phenomenon. The 2 largest Fe{sub s} layers formed at 102.4 km and 91.4 km over a period of about 20 min and their widths were approximately 2.3 km FWHM. The peak densities of the Fe{sub s} layers were as high as 31{times}10{sup 3} cm{sup {minus}3} and the abundances were as high as 5.8{times}10{sup 9} cm{sup {minus}2}. The observations are compared with previous measurements of mesospheric Fe and with recent observations of sporadic Na (Na{sub s}) layers.

• OSTI ID: 6281779
• Journal Information: Geophysical Research Letters (American Geophysical Union); (USA), Journal Name: Geophysical Research Letters (American Geophysical Union); (USA) Vol. 17:2; ISSN 0094-8276; ISSN GPRLA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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