On the radar frequency dependence of polar mesosphere summer echoes

Polar mesosphere summer echoes(PMSEs)are very strong radar echoes in the polar mesopause in local summer.Here we present the frequency dependence of the volume reflectivity and the effect of energetic particle precipitation on modulated PMSEs by using PMSEs observations carried out by European Incoherent SCATter(EISCAT)heating equipment simultaneously with very high frequency(VHF)radar and ultra high frequency(UHF)radar on 12 July 2007.According to the experimental observations,the PMSEs occurrence rate at VHF was much higher than that at UHF,and the altitude of the PMSEs maximum observed at VHF was higher than that at UHF.Overlapping regions were observed by VHF radar between high energetic particle precipitation and the PMSEs.In addition,highfrequency heating had a very limited impact on PMSEs when the UHF electron density was enhanced because of energetic particle precipitation.In addition,an updated qualitative method was used to study the relationship between volume reflectivity and frequency.The volume reflectivity was found to be inversely proportional to the fourth power of radar frequency.The theoretical and experimental results provide a definitive data foundation for further analysis and investigation of the physical mechanism of PMSEs.

Reflection Characteristics of Layered Media in Polar Mesopause Related to Polar Mesosphere Summer Echoes

Polar mesosphere summer echoes （PMSE） are very strong radar echoes from alti- tudes close to the polar summer mesopause. The data from sounding rocket campaigns indicate that the radar signal to noise ratio （SNR）, electron density and dust charge density of polar meso- sphere in summer show obvious layered structure. In this paper the theory of wave propagation in layered media is used to study the reflectance and SNR at each layer in polar mesosphere. The calculated SNR using theory of dusty plasma is found in good agreement with the experimental result, which may imply that the intensity of the radar echoes reflected by the layered structure in polar mesosphere where polar mesosphere summer echoes used to occur can interpret partially the phenomenon of PMSE. In other words, reflection may play an important role in the occurrence of PMSE.

Preliminary Study on Active Modulation of Polar Mesosphere Summer Echoes with the Radio Propagation in Layered Space Dusty Plasma

Radar echoes intensity of polar mesosphere summer echoes（PMSE） is greatly affected by the temperature of dusty plasma and the frequency of electromagnetic wave about the radar.In this paper,a new method is developed to explain the active experiment results of PMSE.The theory of wave propagation in a layered media is used to study the propagation characteristics of an electromagnetic wave at different electron temperatures.The simulation results show that the variation tendency of the reflected power fraction almost agrees with the results observed by radar in the European Incoherent Scatter Scientific Association（EISCAT）.The radar echoes intensity of PMSE greatly decreases with the increase of the radio frequency and the enhancement of the electron temperature.

Comparison of the reaction of polar mesosphere winter echoes and polar mesosphere summer echoes to high-frequency heating in terms of modulated characteristics

In this work,for the first time,we have analyzed and compared the responses of polar mesosphere winter echoes(PMWE)and their summer counterpart,polar mesosphere summer echoes(PMSE),to high-frequency(HF)heating in terms of modulated characteristics(i.e.,backscatter intensity reduction,recovery,and overshoot).Both PMWE and PMSE observations were from the same site(Tromsφ,Norway;69.6°N,19.2°E)and radar(EISCAT[European Incoherent Scatter Scientific Association]very high frequency,224 MHz).The heating patterns of both PMWE and PMSE were found to be similar;however,PMSE was more greatly affected by HF heating.Polar mesosphere summer echoes showed recovery and overshoot more frequently than did PMWE.In addition,the mean recovery and overshoot of PMSE were greater than those of PMWE.The associated electron temperature enhancement was estimated for both PMWE and PMSE and showed that,compared with PMWE,the electron temperature enhancement was more significant in PMSE.The strong heating effects on PMSE may be due to the considerable increase in electron temperature.

Study on the Relation Between the Reflectivity and Frequency in Dusty Plasma of the Polar Summer Mesopause

Relation between the volume reflectivity and frequency in view of the polar mesosphere summer echoes （PMSE） is studied using the small-scale structure of electron density caused by charged dust particles. A theoretical expression for the radar volume reflectivity is derived, which agrees with the statistical result. Both the theoretical and statistical results are confirmed with the data obtained from simultaneous observations at three frequencies. Hence the small-scale structure caused by charged dust particles may be a useful tool for the study on the generation mechanism of PMSE.

PMSE dependence on frequency observed simultaneously with VHF and UHF radars in the presence of precipitation

Using PMSE （polar mesosphere summer echoes） observations in combination with particle flux measurements obtained with detectors onboard the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite （GOES） a special condition is shown for the occurrence of rare observed UHF PMSE. When electron flux observed from GOES satellites show a decrease, then after being in the presence of precipitation UHF PMSE occurs. The heating effect on PMSE is small when the UHF electron density is enhanced at 90 km due to particle precipitation. We analyzed and compared the frequency dependence of PMSE under the condition of high energy particle precipitation in July of 2004 and 2007 at well separated frequencies （224 and 930 MHz） at the same site, height, and time. The frequency index varies with height and time. At different heights, the maximum as well as the minimum value of volume reflectivity at VHF is greater than that at UHF with 2 to 3 orders of magnitude. A new qualitative method for the analysis of dust distribution is used by analyzing the relationship between volume reflectivity and frequency index. In agreement with the results of the model it is shown that dust particles of smaller size generally did not occur at the edges, instead they occurred in the middle PMSE regions.

Exploring the occurrence rate of PMSE-Es by Digisonde at Tromsø

Polar mesosphere summer echoes(PMSE)are observed simultaneously with Digisonde and EISCAT VHF radar.The phenomenon of irregular Es layers is called PMSE-like or PMSE-Es(Polar Mesosphere Summer Echoes-Es)and has some relationship with real PMSE.In this paper,the characteristics of irregular Es layers at 80–100 km were observed by Digisonde at Tromsøduring 2003–2014 are statistically analyzed with ionograms.The diurnal,day-to-day and year-to-year variations and discrepancies of occurrence rate between PMSE and PMSE-Es are compared with the statistical results observed by Esrange MST radar(ESRAD),and the reasons are discussed.The results show that the trends in the occurrence rate of PMSE-Es are similar to the trends in the occurrence rate of PMSE,but there are some notable differences.The occurrence rate of PMSE-Es is much lower than the occurrence rate of PMSE.The minimum value of PMSE-Es appears 1–2 hours earlier than the minimum value of the PMSE occurrence rate,while PMSE-Es appear earlier than PMSE in the year.In addition,there is a significant positive correlation between the annual average occurrence rates of PMSE and PMSE-Es.PMSEEs is a relatively important occurrence in the polar mesopause.Analysis of its characteristics can provide new ideas and methods for studying the formation mechanism of PMSE.

Characteristic analysis of layered PMSEs measured with different elevation angles at VHF based on an experimental case

Polar Mesosphere Summer Echoes(PMSEs)are very strong radar echoes observed at altitudes near the polar summer mesopause.One of the essential properties of these radar echoes is that they can give useful diagnostic information about the physics of the scattering process.In this paper,the related characteristics of PMSEs measured with the European Incoherent SCATter Very High Frequency(EISCAT VHF)224 MHz radar on 13–15 July 2010 are studied at different elevation angles from 78°to 90°.It is found that the PMSEs peak power and strongest PMSEs average power occur at the same elevation angles.Also interesting is that the strongest PMSEs occur at off-vertical angles when a PMSEs has a layered(multilayer)structure.And reflection may have more significant effects on PMSEs when there are double or multilayer PMSEs.Possible explanations regarding these observations are discussed.