The IAP iron Doppler lidar has been operated at the Antarctic station Davis (69°S, 78°E) between December 2010 and December 2012. Seasonal variations in the thermal structure above Davis are studied and wave-induced temperature perturbations are analyzed on different time scales. Gravity wave potential energy densities (GWPED) are computed from stratospheric and mesospheric lidar observations and compared to a simple gravity wave model. It is shown that observed seasonal variations in GWPED are caused by selective filtering of zonally propagating gravity waves.