Date of Award

2004

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Physics

First Advisor

Vincent B. Wickwar

Second Advisor

D. Mark Riffe

Third Advisor

Robert W. Schunk

Abstract

A Rayleigh-scatter lidar has been in operation at Utah State University (41.7o N, 111.8 ° W) starting in September 1993 until the present (October 2003). The return profiles from the atmosphere have been analyzed to provide temperature measurements of the middle atmosphere from 45 to 90 km. Various methods of averaging were used to construct a temperature climatology of the region based on these observations. The data analysis algorithm has been critically analyzed to find possible sources of error, and has been compared to an independently derived technique. The resulting temperatures have been compared to other mid-latitude lidars with good agreement. Comparisons were made with temperatures from other ground-based instruments at Bear Lake Observatory. Additional comparisons were carried out with two satellite-based instruments, WINDII and SABER. The comparison of individual nights with the SABER instrument produced surprisingly good agreement considering the difference in the two methds. With the basic analysis of the temperature climatology completed in this work, an outline is given for future research and upgrades to the facility.

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