HR: 1330h
AN: SA43A-12    [Abstracts]
TI: Initial Wind Measurements of the Upper Mesosphere via Na Lidar at Arecibo
AU: * Tepley, C A
EM: ctepley@naic.edu
AF: Arecibo Observatory, Cornell University HC-03 Box 53995, Arecibo, PR 00612 United States
AU: Friedman, J S
EM: jonathan@naic.edu
AF: Arecibo Observatory, Cornell University HC-03 Box 53995, Arecibo, PR 00612 United States
AU: Raizada, S
EM: shikha@naic.edu
AF: Arecibo Observatory, Cornell University HC-03 Box 53995, Arecibo, PR 00612 United States
AU: Garcia, R
EM: rgarcia@naic.edu
AF: Arecibo Observatory, Cornell University HC-03 Box 53995, Arecibo, PR 00612 United States
AB: We conducted a study at the Arecibo Observatory to determine the feasibility to measure the neutral winds of the upper mesosphere via sodium lidar observations. A simple dye-laser transmitter was coupled to a commercial Fabry-Perot interferometer that we used in the receiver path to resolve the spectral features of Na. Transmitted linewidths were similar to the Doppler width of sodium, while the FPI spectral width was nearly ten times smaller, enabling adequate resolution across the Na line profile. The FPI was scanned across a free spectral range while multiple altitude profiles of the Na backscatter were sampled. For this paper we will discuss the technique used, supplemented by examples of vertical and off-vertical Na spectra, and will present our preliminary estimates of the neutral winds.
DE: 3332 Mesospheric dynamics
DE: 3360 Remote sensing
DE: 3394 Instruments and techniques
SC: SPA-Aeronomy [SA]
MN: 2005 Joint Assembly