Cosmic radio noise observations using a mid-latitude meteor radar

Abstract

For the investigation of meteoroid properties the measurement of the electron line density in meteor ambipolar plasma trails is an important parameter, which becomes accessible by a radar calibration. Radars operating in the frequency range between 20 and 50 MHz are also sensitive to extraterrestrial radio waves. Depending on the geographic position and beam tilt each system observes a characteristic pattern of cosmic emissions, which can be considered to be Gaussian noise. This work demonstrates the possibilities to perform a radar calibration for standard commercial all-sky meteor radars using a delay line method and a calibrated noise source. Additionally, we also used the cosmic noise sources to estimate the impact of the antenna pattern and potential losses of the hardware (e.g. cables, connectors). The calibrated radio noise measurements are compared to a reference by mapping the Collm radar beam pattern on a sky noise maps available in the literature.