Precise and accurate measurements of vertical winds at the mesosphere and lower thermosphere are rare. Although meteor radars have been used for decades to observe horizontal winds, their ability to derive reliable vertical wind measurements was always questioned. In this article, we provide mathematical concepts to retrieve mathematically and physically consistent solutions, which are compared to the state-of-the-art non-hydrostatic model UA-ICON.

The pulsating auroral generation mechanism has been investigated by observing precipitating electrons using rockets or satellites. However, it is difficult for such observations to distinguish temporal changes from spatial ones. In this study, we reconstructed the horizontal 2-D distribution of precipitating electrons using only auroral images. The 3-D aurora structure was also reconstructed. We found that there were both spatial and temporal changes in the precipitating electron energy.

Wind observations at the edge to space, 70–110 km altitude, are challenging. Meteor radars have become a widely used instrument to obtain mean wind profiles above an instrument for these heights. We describe an advanced mathematical concept and present a tomographic analysis using several meteor radars located in Finland, Sweden and Norway, as well as Chile, to derive the three-dimensional flow field. We show an example of a gravity wave decelerating the mean flow.

Little is known about the climate change of wind systems in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere at the edge of space at altitudes from 70–110 km. Meteor radars represent a well-accepted remote sensing technique to measure winds at these altitudes. Here we present a state-of-the-art climatological interhemispheric comparison using continuous and long-lasting observations from worldwide distributed meteor radars from the Arctic to the Antarctic and sophisticated general circulation models.

We present a study of ultralow-frequency waves in the ionosphere and on the ground. These waves are very slow (their periods are about several minutes). They are registered on the ground as geomagnetic pulsations. No simple dependence exists between geomagnetic and ionospheric pulsations. Here we study not only selected pulsations with very high amplitudes but also usual pulsations and try to answer the question, which pulsation parameters are favorable for modulation of the ionosphere?

The biasing effect in meteor radar temperature has been a pressing issue for the last 2 decades. This paper has addressed the underlying reasons for such a biasing effect on both theoretical and experimental grounds. An improved statistical method has been developed which allows atmospheric temperatures at around 90 km to be measured with meteor radar in an independent way such that any subsequent bias correction or calibration is no longer required.

When a meteor enters the atmosphere, it causes a trail of diffusing plasma that moves with the neutral wind. An interferometric radar system can measure such trails and determine its location. However, there is a chance of determining the wrong position due to noise. We simulate this behaviour and use the simulations to successfully determine the true location of ambiguous events. We also successfully test two simple temporal integration methods for avoiding such erroneous determinations.

We used multipoint magnetic field, electric field, plasma, and energetic particle observations to study the spatial, temporal, and spectral characteristics of compressional Pc5 pulsations observed deep within the magnetosphere at the end of a strong magnetic storm. We investigated the mode of the waves and their nodal structure. The energetic particles responded directly to the compressional Pc5 pulsations. We interpret the compressional Pc5 waves in terms of drift-mirror instability.

Comprehensive analysis of a moderate substorm was performed using optical observations inside the auroral oval and in the polar cap, combined with data from satellites, radars, and ground magnetometers. The onset took place near the poleward boundary of the auroral oval that is not typical for classical substorms. The data fit to the near-tail current disruption scenario of the substorm onset. The role of the 15 min oscillations in the IMF Bz component in the substorm initiation is discussed.

We present a study of ultra-low-frequency waves in the ionosphere and on the ground (geomagnetic pulsations). They can influence particle flux in the magnetosphere, which modify the ionosphere. However, there is no simple dependence between geomagnetic and ionospheric pulsations. We study not only selected pulsations with very high amplitudes but also usual pulsations and try to answer the question, which pulsations' parameters are favorable for modulation of the ionosphere.

To determine gravity wave properties like wavelengths, periods and propagation directions at mesospheric altitudes (∼ 86 km) we combine lidar and airglow temperature and meteor radar wind data. By means of wavelet transformation we investigate the wave field and determine intrinsic wave properties as functions of time and period. We are able to identify several gravity wave packets by their distinct propagation and discover a superposition with possible wave–wave and wave–mean-flow interaction.

A substorm is a dramatic phenomenon in the near-Earth space that is visualized as an aurora. Mostly substorms are caused by changes in the solar wind, but some of them can develop without any evident trigger. Such substorms together with undisturbed days were investigated using magnetometer and photometer data from Svalbard. Substorm precursors, i.e., specific features in 1–4 mHz geomagnetic and auroral luminosity pulsations, have been found at high geomagnetic latitudes.

Many independent observations have shown that long-period electromagnetic waves (with periods of several minutes) are preferably observed inside the auroral oval. Here we examine theoretically the possibility of Alfven wave generation by fluctuating large-scale field-aligned currents which couple outer space and the auroral ionosphere. The elaborated model indeed confirms the feasibility of an additional mechanism of long-period wave excitation which can operate at auroral latitudes.

A non-typical 1-4 kHz hiss was studied. It shows a sequence of separated noise bursts with strange “mushroom-like” shapes in the frequency-time domain, each lasting several minutes. This sequence could be a result of the modulation of the VLF hiss electron-cyclotron instability by Pc5 geomagnetic pulsations. This strange “mushroom-like” shape of the considered VLF hiss could be a combined mutual effect of the magnetospheric ULF-VLF wave interaction and the ionosphere waveguide propagation.

This paper reports the first experimental observation of stimulated Brillouin scattering near the third electron gyro-harmonic induced by high-frequency, high-power radio waves at EISCAT. The stimulated Brillouin scattering has also been correlated with simultaneous observations of the field-aligned irregularities and electron temperature. The observed stimulated Brillouin scattering becomes enhanced for pumping near electron gyro-harmonics.