© European Geosciences Union 2006

• Main Authors: Sporadic Sodium, Macwave/midas Rocket Campaign, B. P. Williams, C. L. Croskey, C. Y. She, J. D. Mitchell, R. A. Goldberg
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alomar; Andøya; Norway
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.627.2710; http://www.ann-geophys.net/24/1257/2006/angeo-24-1257-2006.pdf

Convective Waves Ascending VErtically) payload launched from Andøya Rocket Range, Norway, observed narrow en-hanced layers of electron density that were nearly coincident with sporadic sodium layers measured by the Weber sodium lidar at the nearby ALOMAR Observatory. We investigate the formation mechanism of these layers using the neutral wind and temperature profiles measured directly by the li-dar and the vertical motion deduced from the sodium mix-ing ratio. Through comparisons of the lidar data to the spo-radic E in situ data, we find support for the concentration and downward motion of ions to an altitude where chemical models predict the rapid conversion of sodium ions to neutral sodium.