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University of Bath Skiymet meteor radar data collection

The University of Bath have operated a number of meteor radars in the northern and southern hemisphere since around 1999. These commercially produced Skiymet meteor radars are all-sky VHF (Very High Frequency) meteor radar systems. The various instruments have been operated by the University of Bath from October 1999 to present - albeit with some gaps in the data coverage. These were collected in support of a number of research projects - see linked Project records for further details.

The Skiymet radar detects radio scatter from the ionised trails of individual meteors drifting with the winds of the upper mesosphere, mesopause and lower thermosphere. A low-gain transmitter antenna is used to provide broad illumination of the sky. An array of five receiver antennas act as an interferometer to determine the azimuth and zenith angles of individual meteor echoes. Doppler measurements from each meteor determine the radial drift velocity and the meteor is assumed to be a passive tracer of atmospheric flow. The radar typically detects of order a few thousand meteors per day. These observations can be used to determine zonal and meridional winds in the mesosphere, mesopause and lower thermosphere at heights of about 80 – 100 km and with height and time resolutions of ~ 3 km and 2 hours.

The radar produces daily “meteor position data” data files (mpd files) recording the details of each individual meteor echo. In normal operation a few thousand individual meteors are detected per day. The key data parameters recorded for each meteor echo include:

1. Date and time of the meteor detection

2. Range to the meteor echo point

3. Height of the meteor echo above the ground

4. Radial drift velocity of the meteor echo and its uncertainty

5. Zenith and azimuth angles of the meteor echo

6. Ambiguity levels in the determined zenith and azimuth angles

7. Decay time of the meteor echo

8. Meteor echo power and S/N ratio

Recordings are made for each individual meteor detected allowing measurements of zonal and meridional wind speeds in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere to be obtained. Meteor count rates vary diurnally and with season, but are usually up to a few thousand meteors per day.

Simple

Date (Publication)
2019-05-24T11:21:32
Date (Creation)
2019-05-24T11:21:32
Identifier
https://catalogue.ceda.ac.uk/uuid/836daab8d626442ea9b8d0474125a446
Identifier
Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA) / 836daab8d626442ea9b8d0474125a446
Author
  Unavailable - Mitchell, Nicholas J. ( author )
Custodian
  Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA) - custodian
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory , Harwell , Oxon , OX11 0QX , United Kingdom
01235446432
Distributor
  Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA) - distributor
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory , Harwell , Oxon , OX11 0QX , United Kingdom
01235446432
pointofContact
  Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA) - point_of_contact
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory , Harwell , Oxon , OX11 0QX , United Kingdom
01235446432
pointofContact
  Unavailable - Mitchell, Nicholas J. ( point_of_contact )
Publisher
  Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA) - publisher
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory , Harwell , Oxon , OX11 0QX , United Kingdom
01235446432
Maintenance and update frequency
unknown Unknown
Update scope
series Series
Keywords
  • meteor radar
  • mesosphere
GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0
  • atmospheric conditions
Access constraints
otherRestrictions Other restrictions
Other constraints
All data within this dataset collection are available to any registered CEDA user.
Use constraints
otherRestrictions Other restrictions
Other constraints
Under the following licence http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/, appropriate use of these data may fall under any use. This message is intended as guidance, always read the full licence. When using these data you must cite them correctly using the citation given on the CEDA Data Catalogue record.
Spatial representation type
grid Grid
Metadata language
EnglishEnglish
Topic category
  • Climatology, meteorology, atmosphere
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Begin date
2000-07-05T23:00:02
Unique resource identifier
WGS 84
Distribution format
  • Contact data centre for format details. ()

Distributor
  Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA) - Data Center Contact
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory , Harwell , Oxon , OX11 0QX , United Kingdom
01235446432
OnLine resource
CEDA Data Catalogue Page

Detail and access information for the resource

Hierarchy level
series Series

Conformance result

Date (Publication)
2010-12-08
Statement
Please see data lineage statements for each dataset within this collection for data lineage details.
File identifier
836daab8d626442ea9b8d0474125a446 XML
Metadata language
EnglishEnglish
Character set
8-bit variable size UCS Transfer Format, based on ISO/IEC 10646 UTF8
Hierarchy level
series Series
Hierarchy level name
series
Date stamp
2025-11-15T03:28:05
Metadata standard name
UK GEMINI
Metadata standard version
2.3
Point of contact
  Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA)
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory , Harwell , Oxon , OX11 0QX , United Kingdom
01235446432
 
 

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Spatial extent

N
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thumbnail


Keywords

GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0
atmospheric conditions

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