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Laser Radar Observations of Atmospheric Potassium

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Abstract

LASER radar measurements of night-time atmospheric sodium are now an established technique; they have already made significant contributions to our knowledge of the distribution of sodium atoms in the 75 to 105 km height region1–6, and have recently been extended into daytime7. It has often been the practice in airglow methods to study sodium, potassium and lithium simultaneously since their chemical and physical properties are similar, but, to date, no laser radar measurements of either lithium or potassium have been reported. We report here the result of an experiment to detect and measure the density and distribution of atomic potassium in the 76 to 100 km height region using a laser radar system.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica

    F. FELIX, W. KEENLISIDE & G. KENT

  2. SRC Appleton Laboratory*, Ditton Park, Slough, SL3 9JX

    M. C. W. SANDFORD

Authors
  1. F. FELIX
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  2. W. KEENLISIDE
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  3. G. KENT
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  4. M. C. W. SANDFORD
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FELIX, F., KEENLISIDE, W., KENT, G. et al. Laser Radar Observations of Atmospheric Potassium. Nature 246, 345–346 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1038/246345a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/246345a0

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