A Fabry-Perot interferometer, funded by the Meridian Project in China, was deployed at the Xinglong station (40. 2°N,117.4°E) of the National Astronomical Observatories in Hebei Province, China. The instrument has been operating since April 2010, measuring mesospheric and thermospheric winds. The first observational data of winds at three heights in the mesosphere and thermosphere were analyzed, demonstrating the capacity of this instrument to aid basic scientific research. The wavelengths of three airglow emissions were OH892.0, OI 557.7, and OI 630.0 nm, which corresponded to heights of 87, 98, and 250 km, respectively. Three 38-day data sets of horizontal winds, from April 5, 2010 to May 12, 2010, show clear day-to-day variations at the same height. The minimum and maximum meridional winds at heights of 87, 98, and 250 km were -16.5 to 8.7 m/s, -24.4 to 15.9 m/s, and -43.6 to 1.5 m/s. Measurements of zonal winds were -5.4 to 7.6 m/s, 2.3 to 23.0 m/s, and -22.6 to 49.3 m/s. The average data from the observations was consistent with the data from HWM93. The wind data at heights of 87 and 98 km suggest a semi-diurnal oscillation, clearly consistent with HWM93 results. Conversely there was a clear discrepancy between the observations and the model at 250 km. In general, this Fabry-Perot interferometer is a useful ground-based instrument for measuring mesospheric and thermospheric winds at middle latitudes.
Fabry-Perot interferometer, mesopause, thermosphere, airglows, windsCitation: Yuan W, Xu J Y, Ma R P, et al. First observation of mesospheric and thermospheric winds by a Fabry-A Fabry-Perot Interferometer (FPI) uses a CCD detector to record interference patterns formed by the Fabry-Perot etalon filter. Interference patterns provide much information, such as Doppler shift and spectrum line broadening. FPIs have been used for many years worldwide to measure neutral winds and temperatures in the mesosphere and thermosphere as both ground-based and satellite-borne instruments [1-5]. Neutral winds can be derived from monitoring the night time airglow emissions of OH 892.0 nm at 87 km, OI 557.7 nm at 98 km, and OI 630.0 nm at 250 km. These observational neutral wind data are important for modeling