Mesospheric fronts in airglow images and the variation of the bottomside sodium layer densities measured by a sodium lidar at Tromsø, Norway

<p>Mesospheric frontal systems are waves extending to hundreds of kilometers along their phase fronts and appear like a boundary. They are observed in the upper mesospheric airglow imaging observations of OH, sodium and OI greenline nightglow emissions. It is believed that the fronts result from gravity wave dynamics associated with favorable background conditions like thermal ducting. Many of the frontal systems are identified as mesospheric bores when they are accompanied with sudden airglow intensity changes across the frontal boundary. Most of the frontal systems propagate with phase locked undulations following the leading front, while some induce turbulence behind the front. Though the existence of the frontal systems in the mesosphere is known for more than two decades, their role and importance is not understood properly. In this work, we use airglow data from an all-sky imager located at Tromsø to identify the frontal systems, particularly using OH images. Collocated five-beam sodium lidar measurements are used to identify the structuring in sodium densities around time of passage of the frontal systems. The sodium lidar at Tromsø is a versatile system capable of measuring sodium densities, temperatures and winds in the upper mesospshere region. Hence, we obtain the wind and temperature information to study the background conditions during passage of the intense frontal systems. Though, mostly we focus on OH airglow images as they are observed with broad pass band resulting in higher signal strength, we also utilize images from other emissions like OI greenline and sodium whenever they are available and free from auroral features. Interestingly, we find formation of some unusual structuring in the bottomside sodium layer around the passage of the frontal systems. We show different cases during winter months of the years 2013-14 and 2014-15 and investigate the relationship between unusual bottomside structuring in the sodium layer and passage of the frontal systems.</p>