CUPRI observations of PMSE during Salvo B of
NLC-91: Evidence of both partial reflection and turbulent scatter
During the first rocket sequence (called Salvo B) of the NLC-91
campaign, the Cornell University portable radar interferometer (CUPRI)
observed two simultaneously occurring layers of polar mesosphere
summer echoes (PMSE). During the time of the Turbo B flight, the high
time-resolution CUPRI Doppler spectra exhibited sawtooth-like
discontinuities in the lower layer which we interpret to be a
distorted partial reflection layer which was advected across the radar
beam. The upper layer, on the other hand, appeared to be caused by
turbulent scatter and we estimate the turbulence energy dissipation
rate in the upper layer at the time of the Turbo B flight to have been
approximately 0.04 W/kg. Furthermore, a shift in the antenna beam
direction from vertical to 8 deg off zenith revealed an aspect
sensitivity of approximately 5 dB in the lower layer but none in the
upper layer. We conclude that, at this particular time, turbulent
scatter was responsible for the upper layer while some form of partial
reflection was dominant in the lower layer.
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