NASA's AWE mission, led by Utah State University, has released its first 3,000 orbits of data, providing an unparalleled view of atmospheric gravity waves. "This is a view of atmospheric gravity waves never captured before," stated Ludger Scherliess, principal investigator. The data, comprising over five million images, offers insights into the behavior of these waves, which are naturally formed by Earth's weather and topography.
The AWE instrument, mounted on the International Space Station, captures images of atmospheric gravity waves as they move from the lower atmosphere into space. This near-global measurement capability allows scientists to study the waves' energy and momentum on scales from tens to thousands of kilometers.
The data will aid in understanding how terrestrial and space weather interactions impact satellite communications, navigation, and tracking. Scherliess emphasized the importance of this research for predicting space weather that can disrupt satellite communications, given our increasing dependence on satellites for everyday applications like GPS navigation.
Researchers developed new software to analyze the data, addressing challenges such as reflections from clouds and ensuring accurate alignment of images from the instrument's four telescopes. The mission will continue to investigate how gravity wave activity changes with seasons globally, offering unprecedented insight into the connection between weather on the ground and space weather.