The 50-MHz meteor radar observation at Syowa Station, Antarctica

The 50-MHz Doppler radar installed at Syowa Station (69 deg 00'S, 39 deg 35'E), Antarctica, in 1982 can detect continuously a meteor echo if an operator assigns the meteor mode operation to the radar. The radar has two narrow antenna beams (4 deg in the horizontal plane), one toward geomagnetic south and the other toward approximately geographic south, with a crossing angle of about 33 deg. The minicomputer annexed to the radar controls the transmission and reception of a 50-MHz wave. If the receiver detects a meteor echo, the flag signal is sent to the computer. Then the computer begins to determine the echo range with a time resolution of 1 micro s and to sample every 200 microns/s for 1 s the Doppler signal and echo intensity at the particular range (R). The line-of-sight velocity (V sub D) of the echo trail is calculated from the output from the Doppler signal detection circuit having an offset frequency by using the so-called zero-crossing method. The echo amplitude decay time calculated by a least-mean square method is used to obtain the ambipolar diffusion coefficient (D) and then to calculate the echo height (H). About 120 day observations were made during 1982-1983. Some early results are presented. magnetic tapes together with V sub D, D, H and R for later analysis in Japan. About 120 day observation were made during 1982-1983. Some early results are presented.