Radar backscatter signals and weather at SANAE, Antarctica

摘要

During heavy snow storms, the backscatter signal of the high-frequency ionospheric radar at the South African Antarctic base SANAE is observed to break up into a characteristic speckle pattern, indicating that the coherence of the, backscatter has been lost. This phenomenon has also been a feature of the backscatter signals of other ionospheric radars in Antarctica. Radar and weather data from two Antarctic stations, SANAE and Syowa, have been used to investigate the possible effect of weather on the radar backscatter. Explanations for the observations are proposed.