A STUDY OF THE FORMATION AND DECAY OF METEOR TRAILS

Abstract

Combinations of VHF forward-scatter and backscatter circuits, one also involving the Prince Albert Radar Laboratory, were examined in order to assess their utility in measurements of the ambipolar diffusion coefficient by means of meteor signal decay rates, while observations using the Prince Albert Radar were not possible, experimental work using the other circuit combinations indicates that the most useful arrangement is a forward-scatter circuit used in conjunction with a UHF radar. Observations of the decay rates of forward scattered signals indicate the presence of the same large dispersion that has been reported for backscatter measurements. A qualitative mechanism, based upon an irregularly ionized meteor trail, appears adequate to account for the dispersion.