Intense winds and shears in the equatorial lower thermosphere measured by high‐resolution nonspecular meteor radar

Authors:
Open Access
Publisher website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Large horizontal winds and wind shears have been measured in the lower thermosphere by rockets, lidars, and nonspecular meteor radars. This paper describes a detailed analysis of three multihour nonspecular meteor radar data sets collected at the Jicamarca Radio Observatory. This provides some of the highest‐resolution sustained measurements in this part of the atmosphere. These show (1) intense wind speeds, maintaining 180 m/s for half an hour and 160 m/s for another half an hour; (2) winds structured in layers that move up or, more commonly, down in the predawn hours at rates of a few kilometers per hour; (3) intense wind shears that typically persist at around 50 m/s/km but, in one instance, sustains values approaching 100 m/s/km for a few hours.
Funding Information
  • National Science Foundation (ATM-9986976, ATM-0332354, ATM-0334906, ATM-0432565)

This publication has 19 references indexed in Scilit: