An advanced hodograph technique was applied to extract quasi-monochromatic, linear gravity wave (GW) packets from simultaneous wind and temperature measurements by a ground-based Doppler-Rayleigh-Mie-Raman lidar located in Kühlungsborn (54\,\textdegree N, 12\,\textdegree E). During the night of 11 to 12 February 2022, the stratospheric polar vortex was slightly elongated towards Central Europe. The polar night jet’s (PNJ) core was located nearly above the lidar. This unique meteorological situation allowed horizontal wind and temperature measurements in a stratospheric high-wind speed regime. GW refraction in the strong vertical gradient of the horizontal winds associated with the PNJ was observed. In addition, the subsequent low-pass filtering of upward and downward propagating GWs in the strong winds of the PNJ was demonstrated. A pair of upward and downward propagating GWs at the top and bottom edge of the PNJ’s core could be the result of shear excitation in the PNJ. A statistical analysis of intrinsic GW parameters is provided for all resolved linear GWs. Approximately 35\,\% of the resolved GWs propagate downward, and there is stronger filtering of the downward waves compared to the upward waves by the PNJ core. ECMWF-IFS horizontal winds and temperatures had a lower variability than the lidar and a poorer overall agreement above 50\,km. Stratospheric temperatures in ECMWF show a cool bias of greater than 2\,K.

The eruption of the submarine Hunga volcano in January 2022 was associated with a powerful blast that injected volcanic material to altitudes up to 58 km. From a combination of various types of satellite and ground-based observations supported by transport modeling, we show evidence for an unprecedented increase in the global stratospheric water mass by 13% as compared to climatological levels, and a 5-fold increase of stratospheric aerosol load, the highest in the last three decades. Owing to the extreme injection altitude, the volcanic plume has circumnavigated the Earth in only one week and dispersed nearly pole-to-pole in three months. The unique nature and magnitude of the global stratospheric perturbation by the Hunga eruption ranks it among the most remarkable climatic events in the modern observation era, with a range of potential persistent repercussions for stratospheric composition and climate.