The New Meteor Radar of the Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory

Thomas Ulich1, Markku Lehtinen1, Antero Väänänen1, Juha Pirttilä2, Markku Markkanen1, and Jyrki Rahkola2

1Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory, Sodankylä, Finland
2Invers Ltd., Sodankylä, Finland

Abstract

At the Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory (67° 22' N, 26° 38' E) a new meteor radar was built during the winter 2000/01. The radar employs a new antenna geometry minimising the directional ambiguities of the received echos. Furthermore, the 8-channel radar does not only sample the received signals but also the transmitted pulses in order to get an accurate picture of their shapes. The transmitted pulses are sampled with all 8 channels allowing for calibration of the receivers on a pulse-to-pulse basis. In June 2001 test operations began. Here we present the new instrument and some first results.