Dataset of Location of Front Structures in Polar Mesospheric Cloud Observations

The datasets contain the location of Polar Mesospheric Cloud (PMC) front structures identified from the CIPS Level 2, version 5.20 rev 05 PMC data from the Northern Hemisphere (NH) 2007–2022 PMC seasons and the Southern Hemisphere (SH) 2007/2008 to 2021/2022 PMC seasons. CIPS (Cloud Imaging and Particle Size Experiments) was a UV imager on the Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) satellite. The fronts have been identified using the following criteria. First, potential PMC front structures are identified visually from albedo orbit strips as features that appear to have a sharp, bright cloud boundary separating cloudy and mostly clear regions. A front is then identified as an actual front only if the scan across the center of, and perpendicular to the cloud boundary exhibits a sharp border between the cloudy and mostly clear regions. Additionally, the cloud albedo along the boundary should be significantly higher than the albedo within the adjacent cloudy region. The .csv files includes location of identified fronts in the NH and SH, as approximate latitude and longitude values at the center of identified front structure at its observed altitude.