Multi-instrument observations of nightglow intensities and temperatures and meteor radar winds and temperatures at Adelaide, Australia

Complete text of publication follows. More than one solar cycle of photometer measurements of OH and OI nightglow emission intensities have been made at the Buckland Park (BP) field site near Adelaide. The analysis of these data provides results consistent with previous ground based studies, and in very good agreement with simultaneous collocated measurements made with the Aerospace imager, which has been operated at the site since 2001, and with global satellite climatologies of OI and OH intensities made with the WINDII instrument. Routine observations of TOH and O2 rotational temperatures (TO2) began in 2001 at BP using a Czerny-Turner spectrometer from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University. The Aerospace Imager also has a temperature capability, and also provides routine measurements of OH and O2 rotational temperatures. In this paper we describe the initial comparison between the results from the photometer, the spectrometer, the imager and the VHF meteor and MF radars operated at the site. Preliminary results indicate that nightglow intensities vary through the night, leading to a variation in the relative amplitudes of the various harmonic components when analyzed at different local times. This appears to be a result of a tidal modulation of the intensity through the night, and is consistent with WINDII satellite morphologies of the OI and OH global intensities. Both the OH and OI nightglow intensities show annual, semi-annual and quasi-biennial oscillations. There is evidence of a quasi-triennial oscillation in the emissions, which varies in amplitude through the night and through the year. The QBO in the OH intensity is consistent with the QBO in the 87 km MF winds, while the QBO in the OI intensity is consistent with the QBO in the 95 km MF winds. There is clear evidence of a solar cycle dependence of the OH and OI intensities, with nightglow intensity tracking the solar cycle with some hysteresis. A harmonic fit to this period yields an amplitude of about 17 ± 5 % (21 ± 15 %) of the mean intensity. These and other results will be discussed in this paper.