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Utah State University

Physics Capstone Projects

LIDAR

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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Investigation Of An Unusual Thin Layer Descending Through The Upper Stratosphere, Houston D. Bentley Dec 2018

Investigation Of An Unusual Thin Layer Descending Through The Upper Stratosphere, Houston D. Bentley

Physics Capstone Projects

Lidar observations on the night of 19-20 February 2004 at Logan, Utah (41.74 N, 111.81 W) revealed a strange thin layer which descended from roughly 55 km to 30 km over seven hours. Approximations are made for the dimensions and descent rate of the layer. Although the particle radius and density are unknown, a range can be determined from the descent rate and reference to the sizes of known particles. Several possible sources for the layer are explored, concluding that an object entering the Earth’s atmosphere was the most probable cause.


Rayleigh-Lidar Observations Of Mid-Latitude Mesospheric Densities, Brandon S. Hustead, Lucas R. Priskos, Jonathan L. Price, Joshua P. Herron May 2017

Rayleigh-Lidar Observations Of Mid-Latitude Mesospheric Densities, Brandon S. Hustead, Lucas R. Priskos, Jonathan L. Price, Joshua P. Herron

Physics Capstone Projects

This research is an analysis of absolute densities throughout the mesosphere (45 km to 90 km). Although much research has gone into the study of temperatures and their variations occurring in our atmosphere, little has been done to research the densities and their variations. Due to the remoteness of the middle atmosphere there is a high degree of difficulty in making observations in the mesosphere. There are currently three major types of ground-based instruments used to sense the mesosphere remotely. They are atmospheric radars, LIDARs and optical spectrometers. As far as measuring density in the mesosphere LIDAR is the most …


Rayleigh-Lidar Observations Of Mesospheric Densities, Lucas R. Priskos, Brandon S. Hustead, Jonathan L. Price, Joshua P. Herron May 2017

Rayleigh-Lidar Observations Of Mesospheric Densities, Lucas R. Priskos, Brandon S. Hustead, Jonathan L. Price, Joshua P. Herron

Physics Capstone Projects

The goal of this project is to take relative densities of the mesosphere (altitude 45-90 km) from data that has been collected and convert them into absolute densities. It is then possible to look at how these densities vary with altitude and season. The data was collected using a Rayleigh-scatter LIDAR at the Atmospheric LIDAR Observatory. This is a part of the Center for Atmospheric and Space Sciences and is located on the Utah State University Campus. It spans a total of 11 years beginning in 1993 and ending in 2004. The collected data is used to create a composite …