Using Ionosondes for Global Mapping of Thermospheric Meridional Winds,
Abstract
This paper describes a recently developed method of deriving the meridional component of the horizontal neutral wind in the thermosphere. The method is based on the approximately linear relationship between the height of the ionospheric F2-layer peak and the strength of the meridional neutral wind. An ionospheric photochemical model is used to compute the parameters that describe this relationship. The neutral wind speed is derived from a measurement of the height of the F2-layer (h sub max). The measurement of h sub max can be made by incoherent scatter radar and ionogram inversion techniques, but is also derivable from parameters that are routinely scaled from ionograms and archived in world data centers. The wind speeds derived from h sub max are compared with winds from Fabry-Perot interferometry and incoherent scatter radar, and with results of the NCAR Thermospheric General Circulation Model.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 03, 1990
- Accession Number
- ADP006313
Entities
People
- D. G. Torr
- K. L. Miller
- P. G. Richards
Organizations
- Utah State University