Meteor head echoes - observations and models

Meteor head echoes - instantaneous echoes moving with the velocities of the meteors - have been recorded since 1947. Despite many attempts, this phenomenon did not receive a comprehensive theory for over 4decades. The High Power and Large Aperture (HPLA) features, combined with present signal proces...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Annales Geophysicae
Main Author: A. Pellinen-Wannberg
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Copernicus Publications 2005
Subjects:
Q
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-23-201-2005
https://doaj.org/article/c30ebc20939743cfbf0a71e21b71aec2
Description
Summary:Meteor head echoes - instantaneous echoes moving with the velocities of the meteors - have been recorded since 1947. Despite many attempts, this phenomenon did not receive a comprehensive theory for over 4decades. The High Power and Large Aperture (HPLA) features, combined with present signal processing and data storage capabilities of incoherent scatter radars, may give an explanation for the old riddle. The meteoroid passage through the radar beam can be followed with simultaneous spatial-time resolution of about 100m-ms class. The current views of the meteor head echo process will be presented and discussed. These will be related to various EISCAT observations, such as dual-frequency target sizes, altitude distributions and vector velocities.