Meteor wind results from Atlanta, USA, and Ramey, Puerto Rico

Results obtained using the French (CNET) meteor wind radar at Ramey, Puerto Rico, and the Georgia Tech radio meteor wind facility in Atlanta, U.S.A., are presented and compared. Prevailing wind, diurnal, and semidiurnal wind amplitudes are considerably larger over Ramey than over Atlanta, but the mean zonal circulation over Atlanta is more characteristic of the equatorial circulation than winds measured by stations at higher midlatitudes. The value of continuous observations, with a height resolution of + or - 2 km, is emphasized, as is the need for the application of several techniques, groundbased, in situ and satellite, if projects such as the MAP GLOBMET are to succeed in delineating the global meteorology of the mesopause.