AbstractIn 1988–1989 a series of observations of star scintillations during star settings was carried out from the orbital station “Mir”. These observations allow us to investigate the fine spatial structure of temperature and density in the middle atmosphere. It was shown that the temperature and density inhomogeneities are strongly anisotropic. From measured spectra of star scintillations the vertical spectra of temperature fluctuations can be extracted. The horizontal structure of star scintillations was also studied. From these data an evaluation of the anisotropic coefficient of the temperature fluctuations of about 150 was obtained, utilizing the results of the derived vertical spectra. Strong anisotropy is typical for heights of 12 – 45 km. The analysis of 18 scintillation observations in the latitudes 32°N – 70°N and the longitudes 85°E – 154°E gives an estimation of temperature and density spectra variability. Aerosol distribution anisotropy was also studied by analyzing the Earth's limb photographs during sunset with an MKF-6 camera from onboard the orbital station “Salyut-6”. The horizontal correlation scale of brightness fluctuations of light scattered by aerosols is about 100 times larger than the corresponding vertical one.
Anisotropy of spatial structures in the middle atmosphere
Advances in Space Research ; 12 , 10 ; 169-175
1992-01-01
7 pages
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English
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