Coincident Observations of Atmospheric Waves and Instabilities near the Mesopause above Poker Flat

The transition from gravity wave breaking to instability formation and secondary wave generation is unresolved in global scale models. Observations of the mesopause, a region rife with gravity wave breaking and turbulence generation, are essential to understanding the evolution of waves in the atmosphere. Earth’s sodium layer and hydroxyl emission layer allow for such observations. Sodium resonance lidar provides high resolution vertical profiles of sodium density, background wind speeds and temperatures over a wide range of altitudes. Hydroxyl airglow imaging observes a larger spatial region but is averaged over the width of the layer. Coincident observations from a collocated lidar and hydroxyl imager show the formation and propagation of atmospheric gravity waves and Kelvin Helmholtz instabilities on March 31, 2022. The properties of the wave packets are thoroughly examined through the combination of observations.