Simultaneous SOFDI and CASI observations of gravity waves over Oneida, NY

Gravity wave observations from mesopause OI 557.7-nm all-sky data from the Cornell All-Sky Imager [CASI] in March and September 2005 over upstate NY are presented. When the measured horizontal wavelengths and observed periods are combined with background wind and temperature measurements from the co- located Second-generation, Optimized, Fabry-Perot Doppler Imager [SOFDI] instrument, the intrinsic gravity wave parameters are ascertained. These waves are then reverse ray-traced using the NJIT FOREGRATS gravity wave forecasting model to lower altitudes where the tropospheric sources of these waves are determined. We find tropospheric frontal systems to be a strong generator of monochromatic gravity waves and speculate that such fronts are the sources of mesospheric fronts, like mesospheric bores.