SOUNDING ROCKET OBSERVATIONS OF NEUTRAL TEMPERATURE AND DENSITY IN THE POLAR LOWER THERMOSPHERE DURING THE DELTA CAMPAIGN

摘要

The rotational temperature and number density of molecular nitrogen (N_2) in the lower thermosphere were measured by the N_2 temperature instrument installed on the S-310-35 sounding rocket, which was launched from Andeya at 0:33 UT on 13 December 2004, during the Dynamics and Energetics of the Lower Thermosphere in Aurora (DELTA) campaign. The rotational temperature measured at altitudes between 95 and 140 km, which is expected to be equal to neutral temperature, is much higher than neutral temperature from the Mass Spectrometer Incoherent Scatter (MSIS) model. On the other hand, the measured N_2 number density is much lower than the MSIS model and changes with altitude from 30% at 95 km to 90% at 140 km.