HR: 13:40h
AN: SA13B-01    [Abstracts]
TI: SHIMMER on STPSat-1: First Results
AU: * Englert, C R
EM: christoph.englert@nrl.navy.mil
AF: Naval Research Laboratory, 4555 Overlook Ave, SW, Washington, DC 20375, United States
AU: Stevens, M H
EM: michael.stevens@nrl.navy.mil
AF: Naval Research Laboratory, 4555 Overlook Ave, SW, Washington, DC 20375, United States
AU: Siskind, D E
EM: david.siskind@nrl.navy.mil
AF: Naval Research Laboratory, 4555 Overlook Ave, SW, Washington, DC 20375, United States
AU: Harlander, J M
EM: harlander@stcloudstate.edu
AF: St. Cloud State University, 720 4th Avenue South, St. Cloud, MN 56301, United States
AU: Roesler, F L
EM: roesler@wisp.physics.wisc.edu
AF: University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1150 University Ave, Madison, WI 53706, United States
AB: The Spatial Heterodyne Imager for Mesospheric Radicals (SHIMMER) is the primary payload of STPSat-1, a small satellite launched in March 2007. SHIMMER measures the solar resonance fluorescence of hydroxyl (OH) and solar scattering from the atmosphere around 309nm, between about 35km and 95km altitude, with a sample spacing of about 2km, covering latitudes of up to 58 degrees. SHIMMER is in a low inclination orbit with a local time precession of about 30min/day which allows the investigation of local solar time effects not possible from satellites in sun synchronous orbits. The main goal of the SHIMMER mission is the investigation of the seasonal and local time dependence of mesospheric OH, which is also a good proxy for water vapor in the upper mesosphere. In addition, SHIMMER observes sunlight scattered by Polar Mesospheric Clouds (PMCs) between ~50N-58N. We will briefly review the basics of Spatial Heterodyne Spectroscopy (SHS), which is the optical technique used by SHIMMER, and the specific design of SHIMMER on STPSat-1. Subsequently, we will present the first hydroxyl data from SHIMMER. We will compare with photochemical model calculations and data from the OH channel of the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) on the NASA Aura satellite taken at the same local solar time. SHIMMER is a joint effort between the Naval Research Laboratory and the DoD Space Test Program (SMC/TEL).
DE: 0317 Chemical kinetic and photochemical properties
DE: 0319 Cloud optics
DE: 0340 Middle atmosphere: composition and chemistry
SC: SPA-Aeronomy [SA]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting