Using NASA AWE observations to investigate the global distribution of gravity wave hot spots

Upward propagating atmospheric gravity waves (GWs) originating from various lower atmosphere sources can transport energy and momentum into the Earth’s upper atmosphere. In the ionosphere, GWs produce traveling ionospheric disturbances (TIDs), generate electric fields, and appear to contribute to seeding of equatorial plasma bubbles that have detrimental effects on navigation, communication and surveillance systems. Despite their importance and decades of research there are still many open questions regarding the morphology and dynamics of gravity waves. Of particular interest are regions of strong gravity wave activity, called gravity wave hot spots, that might strongly affect the outer regions of the atmosphere. For this study, we used observations from the recently launched NASA AWE mission that observes GWs near 87 km altitude to study the global distribution of atmospheric gravity wave hot spots at this altitude and investigate their temporal/seasonal evolution. Through comparisons of our AWE results with those obtained from other satellite missions, we will furthermore show comparisons between gravity wave hot spots found at the 87 km AWE-altitude with those found in the stratosphere below and those observed in the O2-band at 95 km above.