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 similar to 200 and 400 km altitude), six ASIs observing the 557.7-nm emission (integrated between similar to 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.

We present multilayer observations and numerical simulations of gravity waves (GWs) generated by a series of Mesoscale Convective Systems over the midwestern United States. Strong semiconcentric GWs were observed and modeled, which couple from their tropospheric sources to the thermosphere, displaying strong nonlinearity indicated by instability, breaking, and formation of turbulent vortices. GWs in the stratosphere display a large range of horizontal scales from 34-400 km; however, the smaller wavelength waves break rapidly in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere. Larger-scale (>= 150 km) waves dominate in the thermosphere and display northwestward propagation at 200-300 km altitude, opposing the mean winds. Despite strong molecular viscosity and thermal conductivity in the thermosphere, steepened wave fronts, which may indicate nonlinearity, is identified in 630 nm airglow imagers. The agreement between model and data suggests new opportunities for data-constrained simulations that span multilayer observables, including mesosphere and lower thermosphere-region airglow not captured for this event.