Novel applications of MST radars in meteor studies

MST radars have been used to detect and study meteors since the mid-1980s. By exploiting the narrow beamwidth, high-pulse repetition rate and measurement of echo phase inherent in such systems, a number of new techniques have been developed specifically for meteor studies. These include: measurements of the speed of entry of meteoroids to a precision of 0.3%; measurements of the deceleration of meteoroids during ablation; observation of the fragmentation of meteoroids. The measurement of meteor drifts and hence the study of the dynamics of the atmosphere in the 'meteor region' is now a routine procedure at many MST radar sites. A serendipitous adjunct to MST meteor studies is the measurement of electron density profiles in the E-region using the Faraday effect. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.