Phenomena

Revealing Gravity Waves

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Severe weather — like thunderstorms, tornadoes, and hurricanes — can push air upward into a higher layer of the atmosphere and trigger gravity waves. Aboard the International Space Station (ISS), the Atmospheric Waves Experiment (AWE) instrument captures these waves by looking for variations in the brightness of Earth’s airglow (above). Recently, when Hurricane Helene hit the southeastern United States, AWE caught a series of gravity waves some 55 miles up, pushed by the storm (below). It’s incredible to see these long-ranging ripples spreading far beyond the heart of the storm. (Video credits: NASA Goddard and Utah State University)

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