A Tiny Fabry-Perot Interferometer with Postpositional Filter for Measurement of the Thermospheric Wind

Abstract

A tiny and low-cost ground-based Fabry-Perot interferometer (FPI) was designed using a filter behind etalon and Galilean telescope system for the thermospheric wind observation with OI 630.0 nm nightglow emissions (~250 km). Based on the instrument, experiments were carried out at Langfang (39.40° N, 116.65° E) site for a rough comparison and Kelan (38.71° N, 111.58° E) site for a detailed validation. Wind results of Langfang experiment are well consistent with measurements of two other FPIs deployed at Xinglong (40.40° N, 117.59° E) and Kelan which are retrieved by the American National Center for Atmospheric Research (A-NCAR). In Kelan experiment, the averaged wind deviation between our FPI and A-NCAR FPI is 11.8 m/s. The averaged deviation of wind measurement error between them is 2.9 m/s. The comparisons suggest good agreement. Then, the analysis of influencing factors was made. The center determination offset has an exponential relation with wind deviation, while the radius calculation offset is linear with wind deviation.