A major limitation of current satellite observations of gravity waves (GWs) is that they are limited to 1D or 2D. This leads to a lack of knowledge of GW propagation directions and amplitudes, difficulties in determining the sources of observed waves, and significant underestimation of GW momentum fluxes - in many cases by as much as an order of magnitude relative to theory and models. Properly assessing these waves and their effects requires the application of a 3D technique able to accurately measure these properties.

Here, we combine measurements from the Microwave Limb Sounder on NASA/Aura and the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder on NASA/Aqua to observe waves in three dimensions. Due to their relative orbital geometry as part of the A-Train satellite constellation, these two instruments routinely observe the same volume of atmosphere with a separation of ~75 seconds. Over eleven years of data are available to date.

The observational filter of the combined dataset is highly suited to observing the long-vertical-short-horizontal wavelength portion of the spectrum believed to transport the majority of momentum flux in the atmosphere. Thus, these measurements can reveal vital information on net directional fluxes in the middle atmosphere.

We further validate these data against a wide range of other measurements in the major gravity wave hotspot over the Tierra del Fuego/Drake Passage region. In particular, we compare our results to vertically and spatially colocated 2D observations from AIRS and MLS alone and from the COSMIC, HIRDLS and SABER limb sounders, and to other measurements in the same geographic region from the SAAMER meteor radar and from radiosondes.

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*email: c.wright@bath.ac.uk
*Preference: Oral