Characteristics of convective structures of sodium layer in lower thermosphere (105-120 km) at Haikou (19.99°N, 110.34°E), China

The atmospheric sodium layer normally occurs in the mesopause (80-105 km) region, but rarely in the lower thermosphere region (>105 km) at low latitude. We observed a kind of peculiar sodium layer in lower thermosphere at Haikou (19.99°N, 110.34°E)-the thermospheric convective sodium layer (TCSL) in a lidargram. The TCSL's sodium density unstably developed over time and appeared as several discontinuous convective shapes vertically. It is the first time convective sodium layer observed in the lower thermosphere region (105-120 km). Based on Haikou lidar data, we obtained 14 TCSL events during 180 nights from March 2010 to August 2012. Most of the apogees of the TCSL events are higher than 108 km. A TCSL event lasts several hours and is composed of several convective structures, with each veitical shape lasting ∼5-30 min. All TCSL events occurred during spring and summer, and generally appear near midnight (22:00-00:00 LT). The TCSL has potential regional feature and appears to be related to the thermospheric sporadic E (Es) layers, winds, and field-aligned ionospheric irregularities (FAI).