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A new-generation meteor radar was installed at the Brazilian Antarctic Comandante Ferraz Base (62.1degS) in March 2010. This paper describes the motivations for the radar location, its measurement capabilities, and comparisons of measured mean winds, tides, and gravity wave momentum fluxes from April to June of 2010 and 2011 with those by a similar radar on Tierra del Fuego (53.8degS). Motivations for the radars include the "hotspot" of small-scale gravity wave activity extending from the troposphere into the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) centered over the Drake Passage, the maximum of the semidiurnal tide at these latitudes, and the lack of other MLT wind measurements in this latitude band. Mean winds are seen to be strongly modulated at planetary wave and longer periods and to exhibit strong coherence over the two radars at shorter time scales as well as systematic seasonal variations. The semidiurnal tide contribute most to the large-scale winds over both radars, with maximum tidal amplitudes during May and maxima at the highest altitudes varying from approx.20 to >70 m/s. In contrast, the diurnal tide and various planetary waves achieve maximum winds of approx.10 to 20 m/s. Monthly-mean gravity wave momentum fluxes appear to reflect the occurrence of significant sources at lower altitudes, with relatively small zonal fluxes over both radars, but with significant, and opposite, meridional momentum fluxes below approx.85 km. These suggest gravity waves propagating away from the Drake Passage at both sites, and may indicate an important source region accounting in part for this "hotspot".

Measurement capabilities of five meteor radars are assessed and compared to determine how well radars having different transmitted power and antenna configurations perform in defining mean winds, tidal amplitudes, and gravity wave (GW) momentum fluxes. The five radars include two new-generation meteor radars on Tierra del Fuego, Argentina (53.8 deg S) and on King George Island in the Antarctic (62.1 deg S) and conventional meteor radars at Socorro, New Mexico (34.1 deg N, 106.9 deg W), Bear Lake Observatory, Utah (approx 41.9 deg N, 111.4 deg W), and Yellowknife, Canada (62.5 deg N, 114.3 deg W). Our assessment employs observed meteor distributions for June of 2009, 2010, or 2011 for each radar and a set of seven test motion fields including various superpositions of mean winds, constant diurnal tides, constant and variable semidiurnal tides, and superposed GWs having various amplitudes, scales, periods, directions of propagation, momentum fluxes, and intermittencies. Radars having higher power and/or antenna patterns yielding higher meteor counts at small zenith angles perform well in defining monthly and daily mean winds, tidal amplitudes, and GW momentum fluxes, though with expected larger uncertainties in the daily estimates. Conventional radars having lower power and a single transmitting antenna are able to describe monthly mean winds and tidal amplitudes reasonably well, especially at altitudes having the highest meteor counts. They also provide qualitative estimates of GW momentum fluxes at the altitudes having the highest meteor counts; however, these estimates are subject to uncertainties of approx 20 to 50% and uncertainties rapidly become excessive at higher and lower altitudes. Estimates of all quantities degrade somewhat for more complex motion fields.

The objective of any radar experiment is to determine as much as possible about the entities which scatter the radiation. This review discusses many of the various parameters which can be deduced in a radar experiment, and also critically examines the procedures used to deduce them. Methods for determining the mean wind velocity, the RMS fluctuating velocities, turbulence parameters, and the shapes of the scatterers are considered. Complications with these determinations are discussed. It is seen throughout that a detailed understanding of the shape and cause of the scatterers is important in order to make better determinations of these various quantities. Finally, some other parameters, which are less easily acquired, are considered. For example, it is noted that momentum fluxes due to buoyancy waves and turbulence can be determined, and on occasions radars can be used to determine stratospheric diffusion coefficients and even temperature profiles in the atmosphere.

There are two main techniques by which turbulence intensities in the atmosphere can be measured by radars. One is to utilize the absolute backscattered power received by the radar, and use this to deduce C sub n sup 2 (refractivity turbulence structure constant). With appropriate assumptions, this parameter can then be converted to an energy dissipation rate. The second method utilizes the width of the spectrum of the signal received by the radar. Neither of these techniques have been used a great deal, and they have never been properly compared. Thus it was not possible to determine the validity of the assumptions made in applying each technique, nor was it possible to determine the limitations of each method. The first comparisons of the two techniques are presented. Measurements were made with the Adelaide VHF ST radar, and the results of the comparison are discussed.

The understanding of turbulence in the middle atmosphere has improved considerably during the MAP period. For a theoretical viewpoint, several advances were made including understanding the ways in which turbulence is generated, and the differences between the rates of diffusion of momentum and heat. Experimentally, a proper understanding of how radars can be used to measure turbulence has emerged, and turbulent energy dissipation rates in the middle atmosphere were measured with MF, HF, and VHF radars. New rocket techniques were developed which have enabled detailed studies of the fine structure of turbulence to be made. While some discrepancies between techniques still exist, these will undoubtedly be resolved soon, and these different techniques are already providing a great improvement in the understanding of turbulence on a global scale.

Since February 1985, the 2 MHz narrow beam radar operated by the University of Adelaide in Australia has been used to measure the short term root-mean-square fluctuating velocities of radio wave scatterers in the upper middle atmosphere (80 to 100 km). These measured fluctuations are caused by a mixture of turbulence and gravity waves, and under certain reasonable assumptions the turbulent contribution can be extracted. The results of these measurements were discussed in detail by Hocking (1988). These results are summarized and the data set is extended to include 1987.

Measurements of turbulent energy dissipation rates and eddy diffusion coefficients have been collated, and mean height profiles of fundamental turbulence parameters in the region 80 to 120 km are presented. Curves of Epsilon, and K vs. height are presented. A clear global and seasonal picture of turbulence variations is not yet apparent.

The VHF radar at Buckland Park, South Australia commenced operation in January, 1984. The radar is located adjacent to the 2-MHz ionospheric radar. The routine method for measuring horizontal wind velocity is the space antenna technique (SA) while the Doppler technique is used to measure vertical velocities. It is possible to swing the transmitting beam in the east-west plane, allowing Doppler measurements of the EW wind component.

The formulae relating turbulence and other atmospheric parameters to backscattered power for radar observations are reviewed. Emphasis is on the case of scatter from turbulent irregularities which have scales corresponding to the range of isotropic, inertial range turbulence. The applicability of this assumption is discussed. A formula is introduced for the mesosphere which relates ionospheric electron densities to backscattered power.

A theory is developed for the extraction of r.m.s. velocities of scatterer motions from spectra measured with a Doppler backscatter radar. The effects of finite beam-widths, finite pulse lengths, beam broadening, shear broadening, and the other such spectral contaminants are considered. It is shown that these contaminants can play a major role in determining the measured spectral widths (and, equivalently, the signal fading time), and so must be properly considered if the spectral widths are to be used to extract the r.m.s. motions of the scatterers. It is also shown that these r.m.s. motions can be used to estimate turbulence intensities, in those cases where turbulence is the dominant cause of the scatterer motions.

The spaced antenna drift method is a simple and relatively inexpensive method for determination of atmospheric wind velocities using radars. The technique has been extensively tested in the mesosphere at high and medium frequencies, and found to give reliable results. Recently, the method has also been applied to VHF observations of the troposphere and stratosphere, and results appear to be reliable. This paper discusses briefly the principle of the method, and investigates both its strengths and weaknesses. Some discussions concerning criticisms of the technique are also given, and it is concluded that while these criticisms may be of some concern at times, appropriate care can ensure that the method is at least as viable as any other method of remote wind measurement. At times, the technique has definite advantages.

It is proposed that the enhanced echoes from the atmosphere observed with a vertically pointing radar are due to reflections from horizontally stratified layers. The general case in which there are many closely spaced layers at random heights is called Fresnel scatter. The variation of received power with transmitter pulse length is examined for various models of Fresnel backscatter. It is shown that for the model most often used in previous work, the power is proportional to the pulse length, and not to the pulse length squared. However, for more general models a more complex pulse length dependence is found.

A theory was developed for extracting turbulence energy dissipation rates from spectra measured with a radar. It is shown that factors apart from turbulence contribute to the observed spectral widths, and that these factors must be considered if accurate estimates of energy dissipation rates are to be obtained. In particular, beam-width broadening and shear broadening are important. The first results obtained with this theory are presented. The rules were obtained using the large HF array at Adelaide, Australia, primarily during the Southern Hemisphere winter of 1981. Results are consistent with rocket measurements of turbulence, with typical values varying between 0.01 and 1/0.2 W kg at 80-90 km altitude.