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Multistatic specular meteor radar network in Peru: System description and initial results
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  • Jorge L. Chau,
  • Juan Miguel Urco,
  • Juha Vierinen,
  • Brian J Harding,
  • Matthias Clahsen,
  • Nico Pfeffer,
  • Karim Kuyeng,
  • Marco Milla,
  • Philip J Erickson
Jorge L. Chau
Leibniz-Institute of Atmospheric Physics at the Rostock University

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Juan Miguel Urco
Leibniz Institute of Atmospheric Physics
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Juha Vierinen
University of Tromso
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Brian J Harding
UC Berkeley
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Matthias Clahsen
Leibniz-Institute of Atmospheric Physics at the Rostock University
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Nico Pfeffer
Leibniz Institute of Atmospheric Physics
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Karim Kuyeng
Jicamarca Radio Observatory
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Marco Milla
Instituto Geofisico del Peru
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Philip J Erickson
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Abstract

The mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) region is dominated globally by dynamics at various scales: planetary waves, tides, gravity waves, and stratified turbulence. The latter two can co-exist and be significant at horizontal scales less than 500 km, scales that are difficult to measure. This study presents a recently deployed multi-static specular meteor radar system, SIMONe Peru, which can be used to observe these scales. The radars are positioned at and around the Jicamarca Radio Observatory, which is located at the magnetic equator. Besides presenting preliminary results of typically reported large scale features, like the dominant diurnal tide at low latitudes, we show results on selected days of spatially and temporally resolved winds obtained with two methods based on: (a) estimation of mean wind and their gradients (gradient method), and (b) an inverse theory with Tikhonov regularization (regularized wind field inversion method). The gradient method allows improved MLT vertical velocities and, for the first time, low-latitude wind field parameters such as horizontal divergence and relative vorticity. The regularized wind field inversion method allows the estimation of spatial structure within the observed area and has the potential to outperform the gradient method, in particular when more detections are available or when fine adaptive tuning of the regularization factor is done. SIMONe Peru adds important information at low latitudes to currently scarce MLT continuous observing capabilities. Results contribute to studies of the MLT dynamics at different scales inherently connected to lower atmospheric forcing and E-region dynamo related ionospheric variability.
Jan 2021Published in Earth and Space Science volume 8 issue 1. 10.1029/2020EA001293