IN SITU DENSITY, TEMPERATURE, AND TURBULENCE MEASUREMENTS IN THE MIDDLE ATMOSPHERE DURING ECOMA 2010

• Main Authors: Artur Szewczyk, Boris Strelnikov, Gerd Baumgarten, Markus Rapp
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Andøya; Norway; Northern Norway
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.1052.8419; http://spaceflight.esa.int/pac-symposium_archives/files/papers/s8_6szew.pdf

ABSTRACT From the 19th of November to the 18th of December 2010 the fourth and final ECOMA rocket campaign was conducted at Andøya Rocket Range (69 • N, 16 • E) in northern Norway. All the ECOMA payloads were equipped with a CONE instrument to measure neutral air density, with very high altitude resolution and precision. CONE measurements yield absolute neutral air densities in the height range from 70 to 110 km from which a high resolution temperature profile can be retrieved assuming hydrostatic equilibrium. In addition, CONE allows to investigate small-scale structures in neutral density and retrieve turbulence parameters. During the last ECOMA flight labeled ECOMA09 the CONE temperature measurements reveal two inversion layers. At the same time, turbulence measurements show very high energy dissipation rates right above the temperature inversions. The observed upper inversion layer between 86 and 89 km was associated with turbulent heating rates of about 200 K/day which are thought to be sufficient for producing temperature inversions.