Significant enhancements of the mesospheric Na layer bottom below 75 km observed by a full-diurnal-cycle lidar at Beijing (40.41° N, 116.01° E), China

Abstract

Abstract. Based on the full-diurnal-cycle sodium (Na) lidar observations at Beijing (40.41∘ N, 116.01∘ E), we report pronounced downward extensions of the Na layer bottomside to below 75 km near mid-December 2014. Considerable Na atoms were observed even as low as ∼ 72 km, where Na atoms are short-lived. More interestingly, an unprecedented Na density of ∼ 2500 atoms cm−3 around 75 km was observed on 17 December 2014. Such high Na atoms concentration was 2 orders of magnitude larger than that normally observed at the similar altitude region. The variations of Na density on the layer bottom were found to be accompanied by warming temperature anomalies and considerable perturbations of minor chemical species (H, O, O3) in the upper mesosphere. Different from the previous reported metal layer bottom enhancements mainly contributed by photolysis after sunrise, these observational results suggest more critical contributions were made by the Na neutral chemical reactions to the Na layer bottom extensions reported here. The time–longitudinal variations of background atmospheric parameters in the upper mesosphere and stratosphere from global satellite observations and ERA reanalysis data indicated that the anomalous structures observed near the lidar site in mid-December 2014 were associated with planetary wave (PW) activities. The anomalies of temperature and O3 perturbation showed opposite phase in the altitude range of 70–75 and 35–45 km. This implied that the vertical coupling between the mesosphere and stratosphere, possibly driven by the interactions of PW activities with background atmosphere and modulation of gravity wave (GW) filtering by stratospheric wind, contributed to the perturbations of background atmosphere. Furthermore, the bottom enhancement on 17 December 2014 was also accompanied by clear wavy signatures in the main layer. The strong downwelling regions are likely due to the superposition of tide and GW, suggesting the wave-induced adiabatic vertical motion of the air parcel contributed greatly to the formation of the much stronger Na layer bottom enhancement on 17 December 2014. These results provide a clear observational evidence for the Na layer bottom response to the planetary-scale atmospheric perturbations in addition to tide and GW through affecting the chemical balance. The results of this paper also have implications for the response of the metal layer to vertical coupling between the lower atmosphere and the mesosphere.