Wuhan MST radar: Technical features and Validation of wind observations.

The Wuhan MST radar is a 53.8 MHz monostatic Doppler radar, located in Chongyang, Hubei Province, China, which has the capability to observe the dynamics of the mesosphere-stratosphere-troposphere region in the subtropical latitudes. The system is composed of 576 Yagi antennas with square distribution, and the maximum peak power is 192 kW. The Wuhan MST radar is efficient and cheap, which applies simplifier and more flexible architecture. It includes 24 big TR modules, and the row/column data port of each big TR module connects 24 small TR modules via the corresponding row/column feeding network. Each antenna is driven by a small TR module with peak output power of 300 W. The arrangement of the antenna field, the functions of the timing signals, the structure of the TR modules, and the clutter suppression procedure are described in detail in this manuscript. We compared the MST radar observation results with other instruments and related models in the whole MST region for validation. Firstly, we made a comparison of the Wuhan MST radar observed horizontal winds in the troposphere and low stratosphere with the radiosonde in the short term, as well as the ERA-interim data sets (2016 and 2017) in the long term. Then, we made a comparison of the observed horizontal winds in the mesosphere with the meteor radar and the HWM-07 model in the same way. In general, good agreements can be obtained, and it indicates that the Wuhan MST is an effective tool to measure the three-dimensional wind fields of the MST region in the short-term and long-term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]