Millstone Hill Thomson Scatter Results for 1973

Abstract

During 1973, the vertically-directed incoherent scatter radar at Millstone Hill (42.6°N, 71.5°W) was employed to measure electron density, electron and ion temperature and vertical ion velocity in the F-region over periods of 24 hours one or two times per month. The observations spanned the height interval 200-900 km approximately, and achieved a time resolution of about 30 minutes. This report presents the results of these measurements in a set of contour diagrams. For a number of the days, the results have been used to derive the diurnal variation of the temperature of the neutral atmosphere above 300 km (the exospheric temperature) as well as the speed of the neutral wind in the magnetic meridian plane at this altitude. These results were used to define a model for the pressure variation in the thermosphere over Millstone whose E-W variation is set by the observed temperature variation, and whose N-S variation was adjusted to reproduce the observed winds calculated by solving momentum equations for the neutral air. These results, together with similar results obtained using data gathered over the six-year period 1970-1975 have been used in a study of the seasonal and sunspot cycle variation of the mean meridional and zonal winds. Also reported are the results of a study of the effect of magnetic storms on the thermospheric winds observed over Millstone Hill.