Meteor wind wave analysis of SuperDARN observations

Abstract

SuperDARN is an extensive array of radars located in both the northern and southern Auroral regions. The array has been used to study plasma convection in the high-latitude ionosphere. A recent study shows that it can also be used to observe the characteristics of the high latitude mesophere-lower-thermosphere (MLR) region. In this region, noise-like echoes, which show totally different properties from the E or F region irregularities, were paid particular interest in recent studies. The echoes are considered to be due to scatter from meteor trails. In this thesis, an algorithm was designed to extract meteor echoes from the SuperDARN data. The extracted data were then used to determine the time series of the zonal and meridian neutral wind. From the time series, various wave modes have been identified and seasonal behavior of those wave modes were studies.