Project Title

Pan-Antarctic Investigations of Mesospheric Wave Dynamics and Influences Using the ANGWIN Network

Summary

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

Program Director:
Dr. Marion Dierickx

ASC POC/Implementer:
Marissa Goerke / Randolph Jones / Sheryl Seagraves

Principal Investigator(s)

Dr. Pierre-Dominique Pautet
dominiquepautet@gmail.com
Utah State University
Center for Atmospheric and Space Sciences
Logan, Utah

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

Location

Supporting Stations: McMurdo Station, South Pole Station
Research Locations: Arrival Heights, B2 Laboratory

Description

The Antarctic Gravity Wave Imaging Network (ANGWIN) is a cooperative effort of six international Antarctic programs to collect continentwide gravity wave measurements. This network capitalizes on existing optical and radar measurement capabilities at McMurdo Station (US), South Pole Station (US), Halley Research (UK), Showa Station (Japan), Davis Station (Australia), Rothera Research Station (UK), and Comandante Ferraz Antarctic Station (Brazil). The network quantifies the properties, variability, and momentum fluxes of short-period (less than 1 hour) mesospheric gravity waves and their dominant sources and effects over the Antarctic continent. The instrumentation at McMurdo Station consists of an infrared all-sky mesospheric OH (hydroxyl) imager and an Advanced Mesospheric Temperature Mapper (AMTM). Instrumentation at South Pole includes an all-sky airglow imager, an AMTM, and a Rayleigh lidar. 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. These measurements substantially contribute to much-needed climatology on effects of gravity waves and their impact on the upper atmosphere over Antarctica.

Field Season Overview

No on-site fieldwork will be performed by the science team in 2025-26. Research associate support will be provided throughout the year for routine monitoring and maintenance of equipment, including observation of the cameras and lidar to ensure they are in normal operating mode; shutdown and restart of software and hardware; data transfer; and communication with the project's principal investigator and other personnel as needed.