TRAVELING IONOSPHERIC DISTURBANCES (TIDS) REPRESENT A KEY DYNAMIC PROCESS OF ENERGY TRANSFER IN THE HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL DIRECTIONS AND ARE ONE OF THE IMPORTANT SOURCES OF IONOSPHERIC VARIABILITY. ALTHOUGH THEY HAVE BEEN STUDIED FOR EXTENDED PERIOD OF TIME THE SOURCES OF TIDS REMAIN A MATTER OF A DEBATE. THIS WORK STRIVES TO IDENTIFY SOURCES OF MEDIUM-SCALE TIDS (MSTIDS) OBSERVED AT HIGH TO MIDDLE NORTHERN LATITUDES AND LINK THEM TO GRAVITY WAVES (GWS) GENERATED IN THE REGION OF THE ARCTIC POLAR VORTEX. IT IS WELL KNOWN THAT STRONGER WESTWARD GWS IN THE MESOSPHERE ARE ASSOCIATED WITH A STRONGER AND LESS VARIABLE ARCTIC POLAR VORTEX THAT IS ALSO MORE CONFINED TO THE NORTH POLE AND EXTENDED TO HIGHER ALTITUDES. WE HYPOTHESIZE THAT INTERMITTENT BODY FORCES FROM THE STRONGER GWS WILL PRODUCE STRONGER SECONDARY GWS (AND PROBABLY STRONGER TERTIARY GWS) AND HENCE CAUSE TIDS WITH LARGER AMPLITUDES AND/OR HIGHER OCCURRENCE RATES. CONFIRMATION OF THIS HYPOTHESIS WILL PROVIDE A BASIS FOR IMPROVED PHYSICAL UNDERSTANDING OF MSTIDS AND OF THE IMPRINT OF INTRA-SEASONAL LOWER ATMOSPHERE VARIABILITY IN IONOSPHERIC VARIABILITY AND TIDS AND IT WILL HAVE IMPLICATIONS FOR THE PREDICTION OF MSTIDS.