Lidar Returns from the Upper Atmosphere and Possible Causes of Their Generation

  1. Institute of Cosmophysical Research and Radio Wave Propagation, Far Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, ul. Mirnaya 7, Paratunka, Kamchatskii krai, 684034 Russia

New experimental data which confirm episodic occurrence of the correlation of light backscatter ing lidar signals from a 150–300 km altitude region with the plasma content in the nighttime F2 layer of the ionosphere are presented. Analysis results of lidar observation data for 2008–2014 are given. A conclusion is drawn that these correlations occur when additional sources for ionosphere ionization appear. A hypothesis is discussed that the resonance scattering by excited atomic nitrogen ions is a possible cause of generation of these signals.

V. V. Bychkov. Yu. A. Nepomnyashchiy, A. S. Perezhogin, and B. M. Shevtsov Lidar Returns from the Upper Atmosphere and Possible Causes of Their Generation // Atmosphere and Ocean Optic, 2015, №4