First HF radar measurements of summer mesopause echoes at SURA

Karashtin, A. N.; Shlyugaev, Y. V.; Abramov, V. I.; Belov, I. F.; Berezin, I. V.; Bychkov, V. V.; Eryshev, E. B.; Komrakov, G. P.

doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s00585-997-0935-z

Articles | Volume 15, issue 7

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00585-997-0935-z

Articles | Volume 15, issue 7

31 Jul 1997

First HF radar measurements of summer mesopause echoes at SURA

A. N. Karashtin, Y. V. Shlyugaev, V. I. Abramov, I. F. Belov, I. V. Berezin, V. V. Bychkov, E. B. Eryshev, and G. P. Komrakov

Abstract. HF sounding of the mesosphere was first carried out at SURA in summer 1994 at frequencies in the range 8–9 MHz using one of the sub-arrays of the SURA heating facility. The observations had a range resolution of 3 km. Almost all measurements indicated the presence of strong radar returns from altitudes between 83 and 90 km with features very similar to VHF measurements of mesopause summer echoes at mid-latitudes and polar mesopause summer echoes. In contrast to VHF observations, HF mesopause echoes are almost always present.