On January 18, 2005, two instrumented miniaturised rocket payloads, each with a Positive Ion Probe (PIP) and a Faraday rotation/differential absorption experiment, were launched from Andoya Rocket Range (69°N). The instrumented payloads were launched into conditions with Polar Mesosphere Winter Echoes (PMWE) as part of a salvo of meteorological rockets measuring temperature and wind using falling spheres and chaff. Layers of PMWE were detected in the altitude range 55-77 km by the 53.5 MHz ALWIN radar. Fluctuations in the ion density, as measured in situ by the instrumented payloads, show that there was turbulence inside the PMWE layers, but not above/below and between. Data from the PIPs are analysed and related to the geophysical conditions, as observed with the ALWIN radar and meteorological rockets.
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