Gravity Wave Zoo: Engaging Citizen Science to Analyze Atmospheric Gravity Wave Activity over Poker Flat, Alaska

The Gravity Wave Zoo, a citizen science initiative, has enabled the classification of large-scale hydroxyl image datasets, highlighting occurrences of high-frequency atmospheric gravity waves (GWs), Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities (KHI), and aurora. To-date, the project has recorded over 73,000 classifications from more than 2,100 volunteers, spanning three observing seasons and encompassing over 600,000 near-infrared (NIR) hydroxyl images of the Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere (MLT) at approximately 86 km in altitude. We present the first statistical analysis of Gravity Wave Zoo engagement and results, evaluating volunteer accuracy and reliability by comparison with conventional analysis, as well as associations with known dynamics including local magnetometer perturbations and semi-diurnal tidal behavior. These connections are enabled by data obtained using the Poker Flat Research Range (PFRR) hydroxyl imager (65°N 147°W), which covers a significant portion (1,000,000 km^2) of the local, high-latitude MLT, and the Poker Flat Meteor Radar, which measures background winds coincident with atmospheric anomalies (GWs, KHI, or aurora) observed by the imager. This work demonstrates the advantages of citizen science in classifying large-scale MLT variability datasets and links Gravity Wave Zoo findings to the physical processes at play in the high-latitude night sky.