CAREER Award Project

(1) Establish a global seasonal climatology of temperature structure in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) by analyzing and compiling past, present and future lidar data collected at low, mid, and high latitudes, and comparing lidar data to SABER satellite data.

(2) Understand the seasonal variations and structural differences in MLT temperature between different latitudes and longitudes via comparisons of these data with two general circulation models (TIME-GCM and WACCM) and with the Global Scale Wave Model (GSWM).

(3) Advance our knowledge of tropical tides, gravity wave (GW) instability, and tide-GW interaction by comparing lidar data between Arecibo (18.35°N, 66.75°W) and Maui (20.7°N, 156.3°W) and through coordinated measurements with a lidar and the incoherent scatter radar at Arecibo. This will help to further the understanding of temperature differences between Arecibo and Maui.

(4) Develop a new curriculum, consisting of Lidar remote sensing, Fundamentals of spectroscopy for optical remote sensing, and Lab for optical remote sensing, to systematically educate and train students and young researchers at the University of Colorado (CU) and in the CEDAR (Coupling, Energetics, and Dynamics of Atmospheric Regions) science community.

(5) Develop a lidar education base in Boulder through the construction of a Rayleigh lidar teaching system in order to provide students with hands-on experience in classroom and workshop learning.

(6) Integrate active research projects with the CU remote sensing classes by involving both graduate and undergraduate students in the research projects and the building of the proposed lidar system.