Gravity Wave Influences in the Thermosphere and Ionosphere: Observations and Recent Modeling

Observational and theoretical studies have suggested gravity wave propagation and influences in the thermosphere and ionosphere for half a century. Gravity waves contribute, or are believed to contribute, to a variety of neutral and electrodynamic phenomena ranging from vertical coupling, energy and momentum transport and deposition, neutral perturbations and accelerations, traveling ionospheric disturbances, ionospheric irregularities, and plasma instabilities under quiet conditions to strong coupling from high to low latitudes and accompanying electrodynamics under storm-time conditions. Our goals here are to briefly review what has been learned to date, to illustrate some of the more recent results indicative of gravity wave effects, and to identify some aspects of neutral dynamics not previously considered that we expect may also have significant influences on neutral dynamics and electrodynamics in the thermosphere and ionosphere.

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