Seasonal Analysis of Intrinsic Gravity Wave Characteristics Relative to Background Winds in MANGO Observations

This study will address the relationship between mesosphere-lower thermosphere (MLT) winds and short-scale gravity waves (wavelengths <100 km and periods <20 minutes) using greenline airglow emission observations (~97 km altitude) from the Midlatitude Allsky-imaging Network for GeoSpace Observations (MANGO) across the western United States. The study will evaluate the consistency of observed wind and wave dynamics across multiple instruments (all-sky imagers and Fabry-Perot interferometers (FPIs)) in both space and time. In particular, it will examine how gravity wave propagation characteristics vary relative to the background wind field.
The study will show a novel methodology developed to identify and characterize gravity waves identified in ground-based imagery while incorporating background wind measurements obtained from FPIs. This approach helps determine how background winds influence the observed propagation characteristics and inferred intrinsic properties of gravity waves. The study will further investigate the seasonal and month-to-month variability of intrinsic wave parameters for waves propagating in different directions and quantitatively assess the intrinsic nature of the observed gravity waves.