Calibration and validation of the advanced E-Region Wind Interferometer

Abstract

Abstract. The advanced E-Region Wind Interferometer (ERWIN II) combines the imaging capabilities of a CCD detector with the wide field associated with field widened Michelson interferometry. This instrument is capable of simultaneous multi-directional wind observations for three different airglow emissions (oxygen green line (O(1S)), the PQ(7) and PP(7) emission lines in the O2(0–1) atmospheric band and P1(3) emission line in the (6,2) hydroxyl Meinel band) on a three minute cadence. In each direction, for 45 s measurements for typical airglow brightness the instrument is capable of line-of-sight wind precisions of ~ 1 m s−1 for hydroxyl and O(1S) and ~ 4 m s−1 for O2. This precision is achieved using a new data analysis algorithm which takes advantage of the imaging capabilities of the CCD detector along with knowledge of the instrument phase variation as a function of pixel location across the detector. This instrument is currently located in Eureka, Nunavut as part of the Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory (PEARL). The details of the physical configuration, the data analysis algorithm, the measurement calibration and validation of the observations are described. Field measurements which demonstrate the capabilities of this instrument are presented. To our knowledge, the wind determinations with this instrument are the most accurate and have the highest observational cadence for airglow wind observations of this region of the atmosphere and match the capabilities of other wind measuring techniques.