Diurnal and seasonal variability of the meteoric flux at the South Pole measured with radars

Abstract

A meteor radar system was installed at the South Pole in 2001 to measure the horizontal wind field in the MLT region. It uses four 6‐element yagi antennas pointing in orthogonal directions for transmission. For reception two independent systems are used: the same yagi antennas used for transmission (COBRA data acquisition system) and an interferometric array of five crossed‐dipole antennas (MEDAC data acquisition system). In this paper we present and discuss VHF radio meteor observations from the South Pole. Preliminary results showing the diurnal and seasonal variability of the meteor flux indicate that most of the activity occurs during the Antarctic summer around a very concentrated region of the sky in elevation and azimuth. These results agree well with meteor observations performed at Arctic latitudes. Speculations on the radiant distribution and possible meteor sources are presented.