Variations of the neutral temperature and sodium density between 80 and 107 km above Tromsø during the winter of 2010–2011 by a new solid‐state sodium lidar

Abstract

[1] A new solid-state sodium lidar installed at Ramfjordmoen, Tromsø (69.6 ı N, 19.2 ı E), started observations of neutral temperature together with sodium density in the mesosphere-lower thermosphere (MLT) region on 1 October 2010. The new lidar provided temperature data with a time resolution of 10 min and with good quality between 80 and 105 km from October 2010 to March 2011. This paper aims at introducing the new lidar with its observational results obtained over the first 6 months of observations. We succeeded in obtaining neutral temperature and sodium density data of 255.5 h in total. In order to evaluate our observations, we compared (1) the sodium density with that published in the literature, (2)

Approximate forms of daytime ionospheric conductance

“…T n was obtained from the Mass Spectrometer and Incoherent Scatter (MSIS) model [Picone et al, 2002]. T i ∼ T n may be appropriate below about 104 km altitude [e.g., Nozawa et al, 2014].…”

Japanese space weather research activities

“…The European Incoherent Scatter (EISCAT) Radar Scientific Association is the international organization focused on the operation of radar systems in northern Scandinavia. ISEE accumulated a variety of instruments around the EISCAT radars to conduct complementary and synthetic observations throughout the ionosphere, thermosphere, and upper mesosphere at high latitudes [e.g., Nozawa et al ., , ; Oyama et al ., ]. The medium frequency (MF) radar at Tromsø, Sweden, has been operated automatically, which continually obtained wind data from 70 to 91 km.…”

A case study on generation mechanisms of a sporadic sodium layer above Tromsø (69.6° N) during a night of high auroral activity

“…An optical filter with 1 nm bandwidth was employed with each receiver. More information on the sodium lidar system at Tromsø is described in Nozawa et al (2014).…”