Analyzing Concentric Gravity Waves Identified by AWE

Atmospheric gravity waves (GWs) are important because of their effects on space weather (satellite guidance, navigation, and communication). Of particular interest are concentric gravity waves (CGWs) generated by convection, as they provide insight into the coupling between the lower and upper atmosphere. As part of NASA’s Atmospheric Waves Experiment (AWE), hundreds of CGW events have been identified between November 2023 and July 2024 at 87 km altitude, providing insight into their global and temporal distribution. The NASA AWE mission operates an infrared Advanced Mesospheric Temperature Mapper (AMTM) airglow imager on the International Space Station (ISS). Four telescopes measure the hydroxyl (OH) emission at different wavelengths over a 600 km field-of-view centered on nadir during nighttime, revealing on a near-global scale the GW field at the base of the Space Weather region. Wave features from these CGW events are extracted using S-transform-based analysis and compared with CGWs previously identified at 95 km during the IMAP mission as part of the Perwitasari et al. 2016 study.