VHF power scattered from the mesosphere at mid-latitudes

Scattered power profiles from the Urbana VHF radar have been analyzed. Coherent power returns from the mesosphere (60-90 km) show that a large portion of these returns occur in well-defined stable layers lasting for more than 6 hours in some cases. It is concluded that some of these layers may be caused by standing diurnal tides. Short time variation in scattered power is attributed to internal gravity waves modifying the amplitude and altitude of maximum vertical shear in the horizontal wind. Correlation time of the scattered signal varies with altitude as well as with scattered power. Seasonal averages of the scattered power show a broad peak around 76 km. The decrease in scattered power below 76 km appears because of a decrease in the electron density gradient, while the decrease above 76 km is due to a decrease in the intensity of turbulence. The amplitude of short-period gravity waves shows a decrease with altitude below 66 km, attributed to the Brunt-Vaisala barrier, and a slight increase with altitude above 70 km. The dominant period of the vertical oscillations shows an increase above 63 km, giving further evidence that the high-frequency oscillations present below 63 km cannot propagate to higher altitudes.