AF: Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, PO Box 757320, Fairbanks, AK 99775-7320 United States
AU: Lummerzheim, D
EM: lumm@gi.alaska.edu
AF: Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, PO Box 757320, Fairbanks, AK 99775-7320 United States
AB: In March 2003, as part of the HEX rocket mission, tri-methyl aluminum (TMA) trails were released from two rockets launched northward from the Poker Flat rocket range near Fairbanks Alaska. The trails were captured on video recorders from four stations: Poker Flat, Toolik Lake, Arctic Village in Alaska, and Old Crow, in the Canadian Yukon Terr. Triangulations were performed using star backgrounds in the trail images, yielding trail positions accurate to ~1 km. The first guided, and re-oriented, rocket released a nearly horizontal trail designed to measure vertical and horizontal winds. TMA puffs were released starting at 146.5 km up to apogee at 155 km, and then down to 137 km. The puffs drifted downward and geomagnetically westward parallel to the aurora. All vertical velocities were downward, even in the vicinity of the quiet arc. There was no evidence of a convective upward wind generated by heating associated with the arc, as might be expected from particle precipitation or Joule heating. The second TMA rocket followed the first by about 17 minutes, and released puffs after apogee from 200 to 120 km altitude, overlapping some of the southern portion of the H trails. The results were similar to the horizontal rocket results, downward and geomagnetically westward drifts. This shows that the wind pattern was persistent over at least twenty minutes. These triangulated results show that stable pre-midnight quiet arcs do not drive enhanced vertical circulation in the E-region, and are not what are responsible for carrying heavy molecular species aloft.
DE: 0310 Airglow and aurora
DE: 0358 Thermosphere--energy deposition
SC: SPA - Aeronomy [SA]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting