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Ann. Geophys., 24, 1267-1278, 2006
www.ann-geophys.net/24/1267/2006/
© European Geosciences Union 2006
In-situ electron and ion measurements and observed gravity wave effects in the polar mesosphere during the MaCWAVE program
C. L. Croskey1, J. D. Mitchell1, M. Friedrich2, F. J. Schmidlin3, and R. A. Goldberg4
1Pennsylvania State University, Department of Electrical Engineering, University Park, PA 16802, USA
2Graz University of Technology, A-8010 Graz, Austria
3NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Wallops Flight Facility, Code 972, Wallops Island, VA 23337, USA
4NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Laboratory for Solar and Space Physics, Code 612.3, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
Abstract. Langmuir probe electron and ion measurements from four instrumented rockets
flown during the MaCWAVE (Mountain and Convective
Waves Ascending VErtically) program are reported.
Two of the rockets were launched from Andøya Rocket Range, Norway, in the
summer of 2002. Electron scavenging by ice particulates produced reductions
of the electron density in both sharp narrow (≈1–2 km) layers and
as a broad (≈13 km) depletion. Small-scale irregularities were
observed in the altitude regions of both types of electron depletion. The
scale of the irregularities extended to wavelengths comparable to those used
by ground-based radars in observing PMSE. In regions where ice particles
were not present, analysis of the spectral signatures provided reasonable
estimates of the energy deposition from breaking gravity waves.
Two more instrumented rockets were flown from Esrange, Sweden, in January 2003.
Little turbulence or energy deposition was observed during one flight,
but relatively large values were observed during the other flight. The
altitude distribution of the observed turbulence was consistent with
observations of a semidiurnal tide and gravity wave instability effects as
determined by ground-based lidar and radar measurements and by falling
sphere measurements of the winds and temperatures (Goldberg et al., 2006; Williams et al., 2006).
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