This project will continue the operation of the Fabry-Perot interferometer that was installed at South Pole Station in early 1989. The instrument measures the temperature of the atmosphere and the winds in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MALT) region of the upper atmosphere. The instrument will be operated in conjunction with the existing collection of aeronomy instruments at South Pole, as well as with the coherent scatter radar at Halley Bay Station which is jointly funded by NSF and the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). Together they will give a more complete picture of high altitude atmospheric dynamics at high latitude, and provide important information for the verification and subsequent modification of the thermospheric global circulation model that has been developed at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. This project is an important component of the Coupling, Energetic and Dynamics through Atmospheric Regions (CEDAR) initiative. This project is jointly funded by the Division of Polar Programs' Polar Aeronomy and Astrophysics and the Division of Atmospheric Sciences' Aeronomy programs.
