Baseline effect on the forward-scatter radar reflections from meteor trains

Summary The influence of the baseline orientation on the rate of recorded meteor echoes has been shown from the observations carried out during the Lyrid meteor shower periods in 1992 and 1993 with receivers rectangularly displaced from the transmitting station in Bologna with a baseline length of about 700 km. It is shown that the maximum echo rate precedes or occurs later than the shower radiant culminates (at heights of 80°), favouring the 45° radiant elevation and similar angle between the radiant and the beam axis. The consequences of the measured effect on the meteor flux within the shower and sporadic radiant distribution is discussed.