Abstract

Using a lidar technique, the measurement of height distributions in sodium density near mesopause has been continually carried out by several research groups. Although it is well known that mesospheric temperature can be determined by proper measurement of the sodium D2 fluorescence spectrum, only two attempts have been made. By scanning eight equally spaced frequencies successively, Gibson et al.¹ were able to deduce the temperature near the peak of the sodium Layer. By monitoring the frequency of each layer pulse, Fridce and von Zahn² were able to obtain a Na temperature profile with 1-km and 10 K uncertainty. Both these groups used tunable pulsed dye laser as the transmitter; the frequency of their laser changes from pulse to pulse and must be measured for individual pulses.

© 1990 Optical Society of America