Continental-Scale Studies of Mesospheric Dynamics using the Antarctic Gravity Wave Instrument Network (ANGWIN)

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People are mostly aware of waves that are seen over water surfaces or felt from winds. Similar waves exist in abundance in the atmosphere, affecting many air layers and transporting enormous amount of energy and momentum over large distances; they also affect and sometimes trigger many weather related processes. These waves are called "gravity waves"; they are key drivers of the air general circulation and temperature distributions throughout the middle and upper atmosphere. Studying gravity waves, their sources, generation mechanism and propagation properties, and dynamic characteristics is a matter of high importance for many scientific disciplines including atmospheric science, meteorology, climatology, space weather, and others. Developments in our knowledge and modeling of weather prediction and climate dynamics are of a highest societal importance. Although the most significant effects of these gravity waves are best noticeable in the middle- and low latitudes, their generation and initial drivers are better studied from the polar regions. This research continues continent-wide observations of gravity waves in the upper atmosphere over Antarctica through the multinational research effort named ANGWIN (ANtarctic Gravity Wave Instrument Network) that uses state-of-the-art wide field cameras and Advanced Mesospheric Temperature Mappers (AMTM) deployed at various Antarctic stations. The proposed research adds new imagers to the U.S. stations at Palmer and at McMurdo, augmenting already existing instrumentation strategically distributed around the Antarctic continent at stations Halley and Rothera (UK), Comandante Ferraz (Brazil), Syowa (Japan), Davis (Australia), and at the U.S. stations McMurdo and South Pole. This will create an unprecedented capability for the pan-Antarctic investigations of gravity waves dynamics and their effects on the upper atmosphere. The project will bring new knowledge and better understanding of the continental-scale effects on the general air circulation of the middle and upper atmosphere, quantifying characteristics of mesospheric gravity waves, their dominant sources, propagation, and dissipation over the Antarctic continent and surrounding Southern Ocean. This research is a cost-effective investment that will advance the state of knowledge of the Geospace domain as the arrangement of installed and planned instrumentation will form a powerful observing system with a high potential for advancing this science field. The coordinated analysis of obtained images and data will be performed by the U.S. and international collaborator; data and results will be shared via a series of open workshops, facilitating discussions and assuring progress in understanding of important atmospheric phenomena.