Conveners:
Gary Swenson (swenson1@uiuc.edu), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Mike Taylor (mtaylor@cc.usu.edu), Utah State University
Workshop Format: 1st half - Tutorial Type, 2nd half - Short presentation type
2005 June 28, 1000-1200 AM, Eldorado Zia Room
Background: Maui-MALT is a well-established research program funded jointly by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Air Force Office Scientific Research (AFOSR). Its primary goal is to investigate the dynamics of the middle atmosphere at low/equatorial latitudes in unprecedented detail. The program capitalizes on the high quality observing conditions and the excellent facilities available at the USAF AMOS facility located at the 10,000 ft summit of Haleakala Crater, Maui, Hawaii.
Coordinated measurements using a cluster of passive optical and meteor radar instruments were initiated in 2002. The basic mode of operation to date has comprised several focused campaigns (using the lidar facility) for detailed dynamical studies imbedded in 4-year long time series of passive optical and meteor radar measurements. Current instrumentation includes an Na wind/temperature lidar (U of I) utilizing the AMOS 3.7 m telescope, an OH/O2 band temperature mapper (USU), an all-sky OH imager and an OH/O2 band zenith photometer (U of I), a multi-channel airglow imager and a narrow field 630 nm `spread F' imager (Cornell U), a fast IR OH imager (Aerospace Corp), and a meteor radar (U of I).
Maui-MALT has achieved great success quantifying the low-latitude MLT region, however, we have now reached a stage where new operating scenarios need to be considered due to recent cost increases. The workshop will therefore focus initially on an overview of the program followed by several short presentations highlighting new results (as part of a Special issue of JGR). The second half of the workshop will be an "open forum" discussion on plans for future operations in Hawaii, possibly from other sites and an introduction to the new Maui-MALT Enterprise lidar developments.