Description and demonstration of the new middle and upper atmosphere radar imaging system: 1-D, 2-D, and 3-D imaging of troposphere and stratosphere

The Middle and Upper atmosphere Radar (MUR) was upgraded in March 2004 for radar imaging capability with 5 frequencies across a 1 MHz bandwidth and 25 digital receivers. Although digitization introduces problems of its own, the uniformity of digitization is a great benefit over the analogue system in place before. This increased reliability will help make the new system an important component of long-term atmospheric science programs. We demonstrate 3-D imaging with Capon's method, which can provide information about structure morphology. In addition, we demonstrate an experimental 0.5 μs pulse mode and compare this to Capon method imaging results.