9312085 Niciejewski This two-year award supports U.S.-Ireland cooperative research in aeronomy between Rick J. Niciejewski of the University of Michigan, and Frank Mulligan of St. Patrick's College, Maynooth, Ireland. The objective is to enhance their collaborative investigations on neutral winds and temperatures in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere by using data from an existing array of four interferometers. Specifically, the investigators propose to incorporate a detector for the Fabry-Perot interferometer at Maynooth, Ireland and to add telecommunication capabilities to the instruments. This will permit real time access to experiments from the University of Michigan. Graduate students at the University of Michigan and St. Patrick's College will be trained on the instruments. Winds and temperature in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere have been difficult to observe and understand, yet, they are intricately tied to global change. The interferometers are crucial for providing ground measurements for interpretation of observational data from satellites. The proposed measurements will occur during the current Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite mission. ***
