OBSERVATION OF POLAR MESOSPHERIC CLOUDS IN SUMMER, 1993 BY THE WINDII INSTRUMENT ON UARS

Satellite images of polar mesospheric clouds (PMCs) were taken in support of the 1993 ANLC campaign. In July, 1993, they were common at latitudes north of 65 degrees N but increased in abundance poleward to the limit of our viewing horizon of 72 degrees N. The southern boundary edge of the PMCs was observed to move northwards as the season progressed in 1993. Compared with the climatology of other years, the ANLC campaign observations were taken towards the end of a season in a year of modest PMC activity. WINDII, the wind imaging interferometer on the UARS satellite, is a new effective tool in the study of polar mesospheric clouds. Images of the limb give vertical distributions of the light scattered by the molecular and the particle atmosphere. Detection of the PMCs against the Rayleigh background showed that the peak altitude was around 83 km in 1993.