Abstract
Abstract. The Middle Atmosphere Alomar Radar System (MAARSY) with its active phased array antenna is designed and used for studies of phenomena in the mesosphere and lower atmosphere. The flexible beam forming and steering combined with a large aperture array allows for observations with a high temporal and angular resolution. For both the analysis of the radar data and the configuration of experiments, the actual radiation pattern needs to be known. For that purpose, various simulations as well as passive and active experiments have been conducted. Here, results of meteor head echo observations are presented, which allow us to derive detailed information of the actual radiation pattern for different beam-pointing positions and the current health status of the entire radar. For MAARSY, the described method offers robust beam pointing and width estimations for a minimum of a few days of observations.
Highlights
The Middle Atmosphere Alomar Radar System (MAARSY) was built in 2009/2010 by the Leibniz-Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP) on the northern Norwegian island Andøya (69.3◦ N, 16.04◦ E) for improved studies of various atmospheric heights at high spatial and temporal resolution
MAARSY’s main active phased antenna array consists of 433 yagi antennae, which are connected to their individual transceiver modules, allowing for independent phase and amplitude control
A detailed description of the radar and its properties is given by Latteck et al (2012), while recent geophysical investigations with MAARSY regarding layered phenomena in the mesosphere have been presented in Latteck and Strelnikova (2015) and Sommer et al (2016)
Summary
The Middle Atmosphere Alomar Radar System (MAARSY) was built in 2009/2010 by the Leibniz-Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP) on the northern Norwegian island Andøya (69.3◦ N, 16.04◦ E) for improved studies of various atmospheric heights at high spatial and temporal resolution. MAARSY’s main active phased antenna array consists of 433 yagi antennae (see Fig. 1), which are connected to their individual transceiver modules, allowing for independent phase and amplitude control. Such a configuration allows for both flexible pulse-to-pulse steering and forming of the radar beam by appropriately selecting amplitude and phase distribution over the array elements. A detailed description of the radar and its properties is given by Latteck et al (2012), while recent geophysical investigations with MAARSY regarding layered phenomena in the mesosphere have been presented in Latteck and Strelnikova (2015) and Sommer et al (2016). The most important points to know are the beam-pointing accuracy, shape and width of the beam, the antenna gain and the position and intensity of side lobes
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