Project Title

Continental-scale studies of Mesospheric dynamics using the Antarctic Gravity Wave Instrument Network (ANGWIN)

Summary

Event Number:
A-119-M/P/S
NSF/OPP Award 2029318

Program Manager:
Dr. Robert Moore

ASC POC/Implementer:
John Rand / Elizabeth Kauffman

Principal Investigator(s)

Dr. Michael Taylor
mike.taylor@usu.edu
Utah State University
Center for Atmospheric and Space Sciences
Logan, Utah

Project Web Site:
http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/ail/

Location

Supporting Stations: McMurdo Station, Palmer Station, South Pole Station
Research Locations: Arrival Heights

Description

The Antarctic Gravity Wave Imaging Network (ANGWIN) is a cooperative effort between six international Antarctic programs to collect continent-wide gravity wave measurements. This network capitalizes on existing optical and radar measurement capabilities at McMurdo Station, South Pole Station, and six other research stations: Halley (UK), Syowa (Japan), Davis (Australia), Rothera (UK), and Ferraz (Brazil). Infrared, all-sky, mesospheric hydroxyl imagers are installed at Davis Station, McMurdo Station, and Halley Station. The network quantifies the properties, variability, and momentum fluxes of short-period mesospheric gravity waves and their dominant sources and effects over the Antarctic continent. Measurements at South Pole Station focus on quantifying the temperature signatures of gravity waves deep within the polar vortex and on complementing the ANGWIN sites around the continent.

Field Season Overview

The instruments for this project, an all-sky airglow imager and an Advanced Mesospheric Temperature Mapper (AMTM), are located in the Arrival Heights Lab at McMurdo Station. They run continuously during the dark periods of winter, essentially autonomously, with only limited intervention required by onsite ASC personnel and by the science party via the internet. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, no participants will deploy to service the equipment this season. An onsite Research Associate will put the instruments into operation during the winter months, take them out of operation in the Spring, and provide monitoring, troubleshooting, and the collection and forwarding of data as needed throughout the year.