1. Australian Antarctic Data Centre
2. Discover and Manage Data
3. Records
4. Davis_33MHz_Meteor_Radar

Description

This data set contains the characteristics of meteor detections from a 33.2MHz meteor detection radar operating at Davis station, Antarctica. The direction of arrival and radial velocity of these meteor detections can be used to infer average wind speed in the height range 75-105 km (depending on the season). Meteor detection data also includes signal power, decay time and the echo range. The experiment runs continuously, with the exception of data transfers and downtime for maintenance.

Data collection began in January 2005.

Initial operation used single dipole receive antennas that had low end-on sensitivity (to the NE and SW). These antennas were upgraded to crossed dipoles in early 2008 such that all receive directions could be observed.

The data is stored in two formats. One contains records corresponding to individual meteor detections (with a 'met' file type). The other contains inferred hourly wind velocity estimates for the mesosphere, lower thermosphere region (with a 'vel' file extension'.

Data are stored using a binary format designed by the radar manufacturer Atmospheric Radar Systems (ATRAD). The radar PI or ATRAD can be contacted for instructions on converting the data file format.

The dataset was last updated on 2025-12-09.

Purpose

The data is used to study the dynamics of the mesosphere, lower thermosphere above Davis.
The data is also used for meteor astronomy studies, where meteor showers and their parent bodies are identified and described.

The data has contributed to a range of Australian Antarctic Science projects including:
- 2668 'Investigations of the Antarctic Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere using satellite data'
- 4025 'Gravity wave drag parameterization in climate models'
- 4445 'High-latitude gravity wave processes and their parameterization in climate models'

Quality

The data rate for this radar is high, yielding good quality wind estimates for much of the sampled height ranges.

Calibration of the phase delays through the detection system are updated periodically. The phase differences for each antenna pair is recorded to allow post-set corrections to be made if deemed necessary.

Access

Data are stored using a binary format designed by the radar manufacturer Atmospheric Radar Systems (ATRAD). The radar PI or ATRAD (www.atrad.com.au) can be contacted for instructions on converting the data file format.

Temporal Coverages

• Start date: 2005-01-26 - Stop date: 2025-12-06

Spatial Coverages

Data Resolution

Science Keywords

• EARTH SCIENCE > ATMOSPHERE > ATMOSPHERIC WINDS
• EARTH SCIENCE > ATMOSPHERE > ATMOSPHERIC WINDS > SURFACE WINDS > WIND SPEED
• EARTH SCIENCE > ATMOSPHERE > ATMOSPHERIC WINDS > UPPER LEVEL WINDS > WIND SPEED

Use Constraints

Offers of co-authorship should be made to the radar PI for publications using the data.

The AAS project(s) that support the operation of the radar for the intervals of the data being used should be acknowledged in publications.

This data set conforms to the CCBY Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Please follow instructions listed in the citation reference provided at http://data.aad.gov.au/aadc/metadata/citation.cfm?entry_id=Davis_33MHz_Meteor_Radar when using these data.