Abstract. The Wuhan mesosphere–stratosphere–troposphere (MST) radar is a 53.8 MHz monostatic Doppler
radar, located in Chongyang, Hubei Province, China, and has the capability
to observe the dynamics of the mesosphere–stratosphere–troposphere region in
the subtropical latitudes. The radar system has an antenna array of 576 Yagi
antennas, and the maximum peak power is 172 kW. The Wuhan MST radar is
efficient and cost-effective and employs more simplified and more flexible
architecture. It includes 24 big transmitter–receiver (TR) modules, and the row or column data port of
each big TR module connects 24 small TR modules via the corresponding
row or column feeding network. Each antenna is driven by a small TR module with
peak output power of 300 W. The arrangement of the antenna field, the
functions of the timing signals, the structure of the TR modules, and the
clutter suppression procedure are described in detail in this paper. We
compared the MST radar observation results with other instruments and
related models in the whole MST region for validation. Firstly, we made a
comparison of the horizontal winds in the troposphere and low stratosphere observed by the Wuhan MST radar with the radiosonde on 22 May 2016, as well
as with the ERA-Interim data sets (2016 and 2017) in the long term. Then, we made
a comparison of the observed horizontal winds in the mesosphere with the
meteor radar and the Horizontal Wind Model 14 (HWM-14) model in the same way. In general, good
agreements can be obtained, and this indicates that the Wuhan MST is an
effective tool to measure the three-dimensional wind fields of the MST
region.