Stuttgart 2012 – scientific programme

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EP: Fachverband Extraterrestrische Physik

EP 7: Poster Erdnaher Weltraum

EP 7.4: Poster

Wednesday, March 14, 2012, 16:30–19:00, Poster.IV

Interferometric measurements of meteor-head echoes with MAARSY — •Carsten Schult, Gunter Stober, Ralph Latteck, Werner Singer, and Markus Rapp — Leibniz-Institute of Atmospheric Physics at the Rostock University, Schlossstr. 6, 18225 Kühlungsborn, Germany

Meteors entering the Earth`s atmosphere typically ablate in an altitude range between 70-130 km. The kinetic energy of the meteoroid is sufficient to ionize the meteoric constituents due to collisions with the neutral atmosphere which also leads to the formation of a plasma surrounding the meteoroid. This phenomenon is known as a meteor head echo and has recently been studied with various high power large aperture (HPLA) radars. Here we present first meteor head echo observations with MAARSY (Middle Atmosphere Alomar Radar System). The meteor head trajectories are determined by an interferometric analysis using the multi-channel receiving capability of the radar. Using this method we have studied the Geminid meteor shower during the ECOMA sounding rocket campaign in 2010. These data are used to derive distributions of entry velocities, source radiants and observation heights.