IN SITU DENSITY, TEMPERATURE, AND TURBULENCE MEASUREMENTS IN THE MIDDLE ATMOSPHERE DURING PHOCUS 2011

摘要

From 28th of June to 22nd of July 2011 the PHOCUS sounding rocket campaign was conducted at Esrange (68 °N, 21 °E) in northern Sweden. One sounding rocket was launched to study mesospheric aerosols and related phenomena, i.e. the nucleation and evolution of ice particles, the properties of meteoric smoke, and the possible influence of these aerosol populations on mesospheric chemistry. The PHOCUS payload carried 18 scientific instruments including CONE (COmbined sensor for Neutrals and Electrons) to measure neutral air density with very high altitude resolution and precision. CONE measurements yield absolute neutral air densities in height range between 70 and 110 km from which high resolution temperature profile can be retrieved assuming hydrostatic equilibrium. In addition, CONE allows to investigate small-scale structures in neutral density and retrieve turbulence parameters. In this paper we present and discuss results of the CONE measurements obtained during the PHOCUS flight in the context of their geophysical environment.