Lidar Upgrade for Temperatures Winds and Structures at the Edge of Space

摘要

With funds from DURIP grant F49620-01-1-0275, Utah State University (USU) purchased equipment and components to upgrade the Atmospheric Lidar Observatory (ALO) operated by the Center for Atmospheric and Space Sciences (CASS) on the University campus. (Other funds are being used for labor to integrate these into the lidar system.) The upgrade is to the large lidar telescope and to related laser and detector systems. This will make it possible to measure Doppler winds and spatial structures in neutral density and temperature at the edge of space (i.e., in the upper mesosphere, mesopause, and lower thermosphere) between 80 and 105 km altitude. This is a region that has been very difficult to study from the ground or from space. Yet it is a region with very strong winds, waves, and variability in temperatures and densities. This upgraded research capability at ALO will provide a long-term ability at mid latitude to specify this region and to determine the dominant physics so as to develop a predictive capability. This includes distinguishing the effects of space weather from those that propagate upwards into this region. The information garnered by this research will be applicable to numerous Air Force (AF) programs and systems including those that need to evaluate infrared backgrounds and distinguish man-made objects from structured backgrounds, that are affected by large time-varying density changes, and that depend on thermospheric densities to determine ionospheric densities and their variations. These upgraded observational capabilities will complement and extend similar ones that the AF has supported at much higher latitudes (ALOMAR in Norway) and is supporting at much lower latitudes (AEGIS in Hawaii). This upgraded facility will significantly improve research opportunities at USU at all levels. ALO attracts many very good students. A half dozen undergraduate students carry out the observations and many of them participate in the research.