 Manastash Ridge radar data. Click on the image to see a larger version. |
The Manastash Ridge Radar is used to study turbulence in the upper atmosphere, near the Northern Lights.
The radar is passive and bistatic; we listen very carefully to echoes of commercial FM broadcasts. By correlating the signals arriving at a receiver near Ellensburg WA and at the University of Washington, Professor Sahr and his students can track targets at distances well over 1000 km. Here we show a radar observation of a meteor striking the upper atmosphere during the December 2001 Geminid Meteor shower.
Also, the data from the radar can be processed so you can "hear" events such as meteor strikes in the atmosphere. The sound you heard after this Web page loaded is an example of this, taken during January's Quadrantid Meteor Shower. The heavier "thud" in the middle of the sound is a meteor strike.