SCIENCE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES WE PROPOSE TO EXPLORE MECHANISMS BY WHICH DISTURBANCES IN ONE REGION OF THE ATMOSPHERE PRODUCE A RESPONSE IN A DISTANT REGION. OUR INTEREST IS TO EXAMINE THE SPECIFIC EFFECTS OF VARIOUS LARGE AMPLITUDE WAVES ON THE MLT: THE QUASI TWO-DAY WAVE (2DW); THE NONMIGRATING SEMIDIURNAL TIDE (SWT) NONLINEARLY GENERATED THROUGH INTERACTION OF THE MIGRATING SW2 AND WINTER PLANETARY WAVES; THE TOTALITY OF THE TROPICAL WAVE SPECTRUM. WE WILL EXAMINE THE FULL LIFE CYCLE OF THESE THREE WAVE PHENOMENA: SOURCE PROPAGATION CHARACTERISTICS AND THE GLOBAL EFFECT OF THEIR DISSIPATION ON MEAN FLOW AND MEAN MERIDIONAL CIRCULATION (MMC). MMCS FORCED BY TRANSIENT MOMENTUM DEPOSITION INTO A MEAN FLOW SUBJECT TO DIFFUSIVE MECHANISMS CAN EXTEND LATERALLY FAR FROM THE FORCING REGION AND CONTAIN UPWARD CIRCULATION CELLS. THE MMC GENERATED BY THE 2DW IS OF PARTICULAR INTEREST. AN ACCURATE ASSESSMENT REQUIRES UNDERSTANDING ITS EXCITATION MECHANISMS. THE SWT IS A REMARKABLE EXAMPLE OF WAVE PROPAGATION FROM THE WINTER STRATOSPHERE TO THE SUMMER POLAR MESOSPHERE WHERE ITS WIND COMPONENTS HAVE STRONG MAGNITUDE. TROPICAL WAVES THAT DEPOSIT MOMENTUM IN THE THERMOSPHERE ARE FILTERED BY A MEAN FLOW THAT VARIES ON MULTIPLE TIME SCALES AND WHICH IS SUBJECT TO FORCING BY WINTER HEMISPHERE PW. SPECIFIC QUESTIONS T) DOES THE EXISTENCE OF THE 2DW DEPEND ON THE BAROCLINIC/BAROTROPIC INSTABILITY OF THE SUMMER MESOSPHERE MEAN FLOW? WHAT ROLE DO TROPICAL OR SYNOPTIC WAVES PLAY IN THE EXCITATION OF THE 2DW? HOW DOES THE LIFE CYCLE OF THE 2DW CONTRIBUTE TO THE MMC OVER THE SUMMER POLE? 2) WHAT ARE THE DETAILS OF THE FORCING OF SWT THROUGH NONLINEAR INTERACTION BETWEEN PWT AND SW2? HOW DOES THE STRUCTURE OF THE MEAN FLOW CONTROL THE TRANSMISSION OF SWT? WHAT IS THE STRUCTURE OF THE MMC FORCED BY THE DISSIPATION OF SWT? 3) TO WHAT EXTENT DOES THE FILTERING OF TROPICAL WAVES BY THE SSAO MODULATE THE MSAO? DO SEASONAL DIFFERENCES IN THE MSAO CONTRIBUTE THROUGH LATERAL EXTENSION OF THE MMC TO VARIABILITY AT THE POLES AND ASYMMETRY BETWEEN NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN SUMMER CONDITIONS? METHODOLOGY OUR DATA TOOL WILL BE SABER TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENTS SUPPLEMENTED BY MLS TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENTS OVER THE POLE NOT COVERED BY SABER. SATELLITE TEMPERATURES WILL BE UTILIZED FOR ANALYSIS OF VARIOUS WAVES. THESE WAVE DEFINITIONS WILL PROVIDE GUIDANCE FOR SELECTING CASE STUDIES AND THE VALIDATION OF NUMERICALLY PREDICTED MERIDIONAL CIRCULATIONS VIA SHORT-TERM CHANGES IN THE ZONAL MEAN TEMPERATURE. OUR MODELLING TOOLS WILL BE: T) A SPECIFIED DYNAMICS MECHANISTIC WAVE MODEL FORCED WITH TROPICAL AND SOLAR HEATING WITH MEAN FLOW AND STATIONARY PW DERIVED FROM OBSERVATIONS. IT WILL BE USED TO EXAMINE THE 2DW LIFE CYCLE ASPECTS OF MSAO DYNAMICS RELATED TO TROPICAL WAVE PROPAGATION AND DEPOSITION NONMIGRATING TIDE PROPAGATION THROUGH MEAN FLOW VARIATIONS AND NONLINEAR TIDE GENERATION. 2) A TIME-DEPENDENT ZONALLY SYMMETRIC TRANSFORMED EULERIAN MEAN MODEL FORCED BY THE EP FLUX DIVERGENCE CALCULATED FROM THE MODEL OR DATA STUDIES TO CALCULATE THE MMC AND MEAN FLOW PERTURBATION THAT RESULT FROM THE WAVE FORCING. SIGNIFICANCE AND RELEVANCE TO NASA OBJECTIVES OUR COMPREHENSIVE STUDY WILL QUANTIFY THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF WAVE DRIVEN CIRCULATIONS TO GLOBAL TELECONNECTIONS. THIS WILL ENHANCE THE UNDERSTANDING OF SEASONAL AND INTERANNUAL VARIABILITY OF THE UPPER ATMOSPHERE; NEUTRAL ATMOSPHERE FORCING OF THE IONOSPHERE; PMC AS GLOBAL CHANGE PROXIES. WE ADDRESS KEY NASA DECADAL SURVEY SCIENCE GOALS: DETERMINE THE DYNAMICS AND COUPLING OF EARTH'S MAGNETOSPHERE IONOSPHERE AND ATMOSPHERE AND THEIR RESPONSE TO SOLAR AND TERRESTRIAL INPUTS; DISCOVER AND CHARACTERIZE FUNDAMENTAL PROCESSES THAT OCCUR BOTH WITHIN THE HELIOSPHERE AND THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE. OUR PROPOSED WORK IS PERTINENT TO SCIENCE GOAL AIMI-2 METEOROLOGICAL DRIVING OF THE IT SYSTEM: HOW DOES LOWER ATMOSPHERE VARIABILITY AFFECT GEOSPACE?