Winds in the upper mesosphere at mid-latitude: First results using an imaging Fabry-Perot Interferometer

• Published in: Geophysical research letters Vol. 17; no. 9; pp. 1259 - 1262
• Main Authors: Rees, David, Aruliah, Anasuya, Fuller-Rowell, Timothy J., Wickwar, Vincent B., Sica, Robert J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.08.1990
• Subjects: Detectors; Doppler effect; Fabry-Perot interferometers; Gallium arsenide; Gallium arsenides; Imaging; Mesosphere; Photocathodes; Hardware Ranch Observatory, Idaho
• ISSN: 0094-8276; 1944-8007
• DOI: 10.1029/GL017i009p01259

The first stage of a new midlatitude facility at the Hardware Ranch Observatory near Bear Lake (41.93°N, 111.42°W, 1970 M elevation), for studies of the aeronomy of the middle and upper atmosphere, was completed during early September 1989. An Imaging Fabry‐Perot interferometer (IFPI) (Rees et al., 1982; Rees et al., 1990), was commissioned with a special Imaging Photon Detector (IPD) (McWhirter et al., 1982), equipped with a Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) photocathode. Wind and temperature structure can be deduced from observations of the Doppler shift and Doppler broadening of airglow and auroral emissions from the mesosphere and thermosphere. The near infra‐red Meinel bands from near 86 km in the upper mesosphere were observed with the IFPI and show 40 ms−1 amplitude wind oscillations, consistent with a semi‐diurnal tidal mode.