Gravity wave flux retrievals using meteor radars

Abstract

The ability of all‐sky interferometric meteor radars to measure mean wind and high‐frequency gravity wave wind perturbations from meteor radial velocities is assessed. A Monte‐Carlo technique that models line‐of‐sight meteor wind measurements with realistic errors in angle‐of‐arrival and range is used to investigate uncertainties in mean wind and gravity wave wind parameters as a function of meteor echo rate. It is shown that mean horizontal wind speeds are recovered with reasonable accuracy at meteor rates as low as 10 hr−1. Mean‐square horizontal wind perturbation can be derived with relatively little averaging, but momentum fluxes are recovered with much less accuracy, which means that considerable averaging is required to produce meaningful values. Results are illustrated using meteor wind radar observations taken over a 30‐day period in January–February 2006 in Northern Australia.