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Full-Text Articles in Physics
Absolute Neutral Densities And Temperatures And Their Climatologies In The Middle Atmosphere Using An Optimal Estimation Method With Rayleigh-Scatter Lidar Observations Obtained At Utah State University, Jonathan L. Price
All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023
The Earth’s atmosphere is comprised of layers which can be defined by their temperature characteristics. These layers are the troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere and thermosphere. The region where life exists is in the troposphere, however the study of the layers above is important as changes in these regions can directly impact, or indicate significant changes in, weather in the troposphere. The mesosphere is the least well-known region because it is the most difficult to observe. One of the best tools for observing this region is the Rayleigh-scatter lidar. It is capable of remotely observing the entirety of the mesosphere with good …
Comparisons Of Mesospheric Temperatures Between 70 And 110 Km: Usu Lidar, Nasa's Timed Satellite, And The Msis2 Empirical Model, David M. Collins
Comparisons Of Mesospheric Temperatures Between 70 And 110 Km: Usu Lidar, Nasa's Timed Satellite, And The Msis2 Empirical Model, David M. Collins
Physics Capstone Projects
Earth’s atmosphere can be characterized by its temperature structure, dividing the atmosphere into natural discrete regions. The mesosphere (50 to ~100 km) has been the least studied. Rayleigh-scatter lidars (RSL) and rockets can obtain local, high-resolution measurements above one spot, while satellites looking almost horizontally obtain global measurements. These two methods of measuring atmospheric conditions are compared using the USU RSL and the SABER instrument on NASA’s TIMED satellite. These measurements were graphed to show four sets of temperatures from several sources in the atmospheric region 70 km to 110 km above USU. The results show similar temperatures for many …
Seasonal Variations Of Relative Neutral Densities Between 45 And 90 Km Determined From Usu Rayleigh Lidar Observations, David Barton, Vincent B. Wickwar, Leda Sox, Joshua P. Herron
Seasonal Variations Of Relative Neutral Densities Between 45 And 90 Km Determined From Usu Rayleigh Lidar Observations, David Barton, Vincent B. Wickwar, Leda Sox, Joshua P. Herron
Posters
A Rayleigh-scatter lidar operated at the Atmospheric Lidar Observatory (ALO; 41.7°N, 111.8°W), part of Center for Atmospheric and Space Sciences (CASS) on the campus of Utah State University (USU), collected extensive data between 1993 and 2004. From the Rayleigh lidar photon-count profiles, relative densities were determined throughout the mesosphere, from 45 to 90 km. Using these relative densities three climatologies were derived, each using a different density normalization at 45 km. The first normalized the relative densities to a constant; the second to the NRL-MSISe00 empirical model which has a strong annual component; and the third to the CPC analyses …
Mid-Latiude Rayleigh-Mie-Raman Lidar For Observations From 15 To 120 Km, Vincent B. Wickwar, Leda Sox, Joshua P. Herron, Matthew T. Emerick
Mid-Latiude Rayleigh-Mie-Raman Lidar For Observations From 15 To 120 Km, Vincent B. Wickwar, Leda Sox, Joshua P. Herron, Matthew T. Emerick
Posters
Rayleigh lidar opened a portion of the atmosphere, from 30 to 90 km, to ground-based observations. Rayleigh-scatter observations were made at the Atmospheric Lidar Observatory (ALO) at Utah State University (USU) from 1993–2004 between 45 and 90 km. The lidar consisted of a 0.44-m diameter mirror, a frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser opera'ng at 532-nm at 30- Hz at either 18- or 24-W, giving power- aperture products (PAPs) of 2.7- or 3.6- Wm2, respec'vely, and one detector channel. An example of what was accomplished with this system is shown as part of Fig. 1. The temperature climatology was based on ~5000 hours …
Mesospheric Density Climatologies Determined At Midlatitudes Using Rayleigh Lidar, David L. Barton, Vincent B. Wickwar, Leda Sox, Joshua P. Herron
Mesospheric Density Climatologies Determined At Midlatitudes Using Rayleigh Lidar, David L. Barton, Vincent B. Wickwar, Leda Sox, Joshua P. Herron
Posters
The original Rayleigh-scatter lidar that operated at the Atmospheric Lidar Observatory (ALO; 41.7°N, 111.8°W) in the Center for Atmospheric and Space Sciences (CASS) on the campus of Utah State University (USU), collected 11 years of data between 1993 and 2004. From Rayleigh lidar photon-count returns, relative densities throughout the mesosphere, from 45 to 90 km, were determined. Using these relative densities, three climatologies are derived, each using a different density normalization method at 45 km: the first method normalized the relative densities to a constant; the second normalized them to the NRLMSISe00 empirical model; and the third normalized them to …
Midlatitude, Rayleigh-Mie-Raman Lidar For Observations From 15 To 120 Km, Vincent B. Wickwar, Leda Sox, Joshua P. Herron, Matthew T. Emerick
Midlatitude, Rayleigh-Mie-Raman Lidar For Observations From 15 To 120 Km, Vincent B. Wickwar, Leda Sox, Joshua P. Herron, Matthew T. Emerick
Presentations
No abstract provided.
Results From An Extremely Sensitive Rayleigh-Scatter Lidar, Leda Sox, Vincent B. Wickwar
Results From An Extremely Sensitive Rayleigh-Scatter Lidar, Leda Sox, Vincent B. Wickwar
Conference publications
Rayleigh-Scatter lidar systems effectively use remote sensing techniques to continuously measure atmospheric regions, such as the mesosphere (45-100km) where in situ measurements are rarely possible. The Rayleigh lidar located at the Atmospheric Lidar Observatory (ALO) on the Utah State campus is currently undergoing upgrades to make it the most sensitive of its kind. Here, the important components of these upgrades and how they will effect the study of a particular atmospheric phenomena, atmospheric gravity waves, will be discussed. We will also summarize what has been done to the system during this year to bring us to the threshold of initial …
Mesospheric Atmospheric Gravity Wave Properties Derived From Rayleigh-Scatter Lidar Observations Above Logan, Utah, Durga Kafle
Mesospheric Atmospheric Gravity Wave Properties Derived From Rayleigh-Scatter Lidar Observations Above Logan, Utah, Durga Kafle
Posters
Approximately 900 nights of observations with a Rayleigh-scatter lidar at Utah State University’s Atmospheric Lidar Observatory (41.7°N, 111.8°W, 1.47 km above sea level), spanning the 11-year period from late 1993 through 2004, have been reduced to derive nighttime temperature and relative density profiles between 45 and 90 km. Of these, 150 profiles that extend to 90 km or above were used in this work, which is based mainly on relative density data with 3-km altitude resolution and 1-hour temporal resolution. This is, we believe, the first comprehensive study of monochromatic gravity waves using Rayleigh-Scatter lidar observations extending through the entire …
Wavelength Control For A Potassium Resonance Lidar, Everett E. A., Vincent B. Wickwar
Wavelength Control For A Potassium Resonance Lidar, Everett E. A., Vincent B. Wickwar
Posters
An important ground-based way to measure temperatures and winds in the transition region between the upper mesosphere and lower thermosphere (80 to 105 km) is with a resonance-scatter lidar. An alexandrite laser, with a wavelength in the near infrared at 770 nm, is being added to the Atmospheric Lidar Observatory to make this type of observation of potassium. These observations will complement those that have been made for many years with the green Rayleigh-scatter lidar. For these resonance-scatter observations it is necessary to accurately and precisely control the laser wavelength. The intent is to carefully step across the 4 pm …
Gobal Change In The Mesosphere And Usu’S Green Beam, Vincent B. Wickwar, Joshua P. Herron, Troy A. Wynn
Gobal Change In The Mesosphere And Usu’S Green Beam, Vincent B. Wickwar, Joshua P. Herron, Troy A. Wynn
Presentations
No abstract provided.
Results From The Middle Atmosphere With The Rayleigh-Scatter Lidar At Usu’S Atmospheric Lidar Observatory, Vincent B. Wickwar, Joshua P. Herron, Troy A. Wynn, Eric M. Lundell
Results From The Middle Atmosphere With The Rayleigh-Scatter Lidar At Usu’S Atmospheric Lidar Observatory, Vincent B. Wickwar, Joshua P. Herron, Troy A. Wynn, Eric M. Lundell
Posters
No abstract provided.
Planetary Waves And Tides Found Using Lomb-Scargle Periodogram Analysis Of Rayleigh-Scatter Data Above Utah State University, Karen L. Nelson, Joshua P. Herron, Vincent B. Wickwar
Planetary Waves And Tides Found Using Lomb-Scargle Periodogram Analysis Of Rayleigh-Scatter Data Above Utah State University, Karen L. Nelson, Joshua P. Herron, Vincent B. Wickwar
Posters
Because of the significant gaps in nighttime-only data, traditional Fourier techniques are difficult to use to identify tides and short-period planetary waves (PWs). The Lomb-Scargle per- iodogram is a method that was developed by as- tronomers to identify oscillations in nighttime-only and otherwise incomplete data. For the same rea- sons, it is also a powerful tool for aeronomers. The Lomb-Scargle technique is described with particular emphasis on its application to nighttime- only lidar data. Because of the gaps in the data, attention is also placed on techniques used to identify aliasing in the Lomb-Scargle periodo- grams. The method is applied …
Visual And Lidar Observations Ofnoctilucent Clouds Above Logan, Utah, At 41.7°N, Vincent B. Wickwar, Michael J. Taylor, Joshua P. Herron, B. A. Martineau
Visual And Lidar Observations Ofnoctilucent Clouds Above Logan, Utah, At 41.7°N, Vincent B. Wickwar, Michael J. Taylor, Joshua P. Herron, B. A. Martineau
All Physics Faculty Publications
Noctilucent clouds (NLCs) were observed from a midlatitude site (Logan, Utah) on the evenings of 22 and 23 June 1999 mountain daylight time. On both nights the clouds were seen for approximately an hour by experienced observers, and they were photographed. The NLC was also observed on the second evening for approximately an hour in the zenith with the Rayleigh-scatter lidar at the Atmospheric Lidar Observatory, which is operated by the Center for Atmospheric and Space Sciences on the campus of Utah State University. These observations enabled several of the properties of the cloud to be determined. They were within …