Vertical Wind Measurements with High-Resolution Lidars & Impacts on Antarctica Upper Atmosphere Studies | CU Experts

Direct measurements of vertical winds in the upper atmosphere present a grand challenge to the lidar research field. However, information of vertical winds is crucial to many science explorations in the upper atmosphere and its important interactions with the plasma space, which play key roles in protecting the life on Earth from the harmful solar winds. In this paper we present a very sophisticated resonance-fluorescence Doppler lidar that has successfully made the direct measurements of vertical winds with high resolutions at McMurdo Station (77.84ºS, 166.67ºE) in Antarctica. Technical considerations on both this Na Doppler lidar transmitter and its receiver are discussed in terms of their influences on the vertical wind measurements and calibrations. Simultaneous measurements of vertical winds, temperatures, and metal species are presented to illustrate new discoveries in vertical flux measurements. Time-mean vertical winds are discussed in terms of unexplained discoveries, suggesting gaps in our understanding of the global meridional circulation.

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