Transmitter power studies on meteor radar head echo returns

Meteor “head echo” intensities are typically recorded by high-power large-aperture (HPLA) radar systems. These meteor observations have been analyzed extensively to measure parameters such as Doppler velocities, composition and mass estimates. The majority of observations conducted with these radar instruments utilize the maximum available transmitter power in an attempt to obtain the highest meteor flux rate. But there are not direct power law studies on the role of transmitter power and the received backscatter signal. We present observations from three HPLAs to better assess this effect. These results are vital to estimating the Earth's total meteor flux.