MANGO: An Optical Network to Study the Dynamics of the Earth's Upper Atmosphere

The Mid-latitude All-sky-imaging Network for Geophysical Observations (MANGO) employs a combination of two powerful optical techniques used to observe the dynamics of Earth's upper atmosphere: wide-field imaging and high-resolution spectral interferometry. Both techniques observe the naturally occurring airglow emissions produced in the upper atmosphere at 630.0- and 557.7-nm wavelengths. Instruments are deployed to sites across the continental United States, providing the capability to make measurements spanning mid to sub-auroral latitudes. The current instrument suite in MANGO has six all-sky imagers (ASIs) observing the 630.0-nm emission (integrated between ∼200 and 400 km altitude), six ASIs observing the 557.7-nm emission (integrated between ∼90 and 100 km altitude), and four Fabry-Perot interferometers measuring neutral winds and temperature at these wavelengths. The deployment of additional imagers is planned. The network makes unprecedented observations of the nighttime thermosphere-ionosphere dynamics with the expanded field-of-view provided by the distributed network of instruments. This paper describes the network, the instruments, the data products, and first results from this effort.