Frequency domain interferometry studies of mesospheric layers at Jicamarca

Abstract

Equatorial mesospheric scattering layer widths and motions were measured using the high‐resolution frequency domain interferometry technique at Jicamarca. Layer widths as small as ∼200 m were identified, as well as oscillatory vertical layer motions with 1–1.5 km peak‐to‐peak amplitudes. Layers are shown to oscillate with the vertical component of simultaneously observed gravity wave perturbation velocities. There is some suggestion in the data that lower mesospheric layers are more horizontally structured and patchy than higher mesospheric layers.