Mentor
Vincent B. Wickwar
Document Type
Article
Publisher
Utah State University
Publication Date
5-2021
First Page
1
Last Page
7
Abstract
Earth’s atmosphere can be characterized by its temperature structure, dividing the atmosphere into natural discrete regions. The mesosphere (50 to ~100 km) has been the least studied. Rayleigh-scatter lidars (RSL) and rockets can obtain local, high-resolution measurements above one spot, while satellites looking almost horizontally obtain global measurements. These two methods of measuring atmospheric conditions are compared using the USU RSL and the SABER instrument on NASA’s TIMED satellite. These measurements were graphed to show four sets of temperatures from several sources in the atmospheric region 70 km to 110 km above USU. The results show similar temperatures for many of the measured nights and some different temperatures, especially in the winter months.
Recommended Citation
Collins, David M., "Comparisons of Mesospheric Temperatures Between 70 and 110 km: USU Lidar, NASA's TIMED Satellite, and the MSIS2 Empirical Model" (2021). Physics Capstone Projects. Paper 97.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/phys_capstoneproject/97