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Ann. Geophys., 22, 3815-3828, 2004
www.ann-geophys.net/22/3815/2004/
doi:10.5194/angeo-22-3815-2004
© European Geosciences Union 2004


The Buckland Park MF radar: routine observation scheme and velocity comparisons

D. A. Holdsworth1,2 and I. M. Reid1
1Atmospheric Radar Systems, 1/26 Stirling St, Thebarton, South Australia, Australia
2Department of Physics and Mathematical Physics, The University of Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

Abstract. This paper describes the routine observations scheme implemented for the Buckland Park medium frequency (BPMF) radar. These observations are rare among current MF/HF radar observations in that they are made using a relatively narrow transmit polar diagram. The flexibility of the radar allows a number of analyses to be performed simultaneously. The analyses described include the full correlation analysis (FCA), spatial correlation analysis (SCA), hybrid Doppler interferometry (HDI) and imaging Doppler interferometry (IDI) for observations of mesospheric dynamics and the temporal and spatial characteristics of their scatterers, the differential absorption experiment (DAE) for the estimation of electron densities and collision frequencies, and meteor analysis for estimation of meteor height, time and angle of arrival (AOA) distributions. Intercomparisons between wind velocities estimated using the FCA with SCA, HDI and IDI techniques are presented. The FCA velocities exhibit the well-known "triangle size effect" (TSE), whereby the wind velocity is underestimated at smaller antenna spacings. Although the SCA, IDI and HDI techniques were not applied concurrently, comparisons using FCA as a reference suggest these techniques produce velocities in good agreement.

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Citation: Holdsworth, D. A. and Reid, I. M.: The Buckland Park MF radar: routine observation scheme and velocity comparisons, Ann. Geophys., 22, 3815-3828, doi:10.5194/angeo-22-3815-2004, 2004.   Bibtex   EndNote   Reference Manager    XML
 

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