Identification

Title

Impact of Arctic and Antarctic sudden stratospheric warmings on thermospheric composition

Abstract

Using the Global‐scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) and the Global Ultraviolet Imager (GUVI), we examine the impact of sudden stratospheric warmings (SSWs) on the changes of thermospheric composition during the 2018–2019 and 2020–2021 Arctic SSWs and the 2019 Antarctic SSW. Contributions of planetary waves, gravity waves, and migrating tides are assessed by performing numerical experiments with the NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) vertically extended version of the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM‐X). The variations in the column integrated O and N 2 density ratio () are generally similar among WACCM‐X, GOLD, and GUVI observations though some differences exist. Following the onset of the Arctic SSWs, is reduced by 10% at low to mid latitudes. The variations during the 2019 Antarctic SSW are less pronounced, likely due to the event being a minor warming. WACCM‐X simulations, with the Kp index and F10.7 cm solar flux kept at fixed low levels, confirm that the variability of at low to mid latitudes is primarily induced by SSWs. The changes are associated with the reversals of the mean meridional circulation (MMC) in the lower thermosphere, mainly driven by westward‐traveling planetary waves. The results highlight that planetary wave activity during SSWs can significantly impact the mean state of the thermosphere.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

https://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d72r3x0n

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2025-01-01T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

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version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

<span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:10pt;font-style:normal;" data-sheets-root="1">Copyright author(s). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.</span>

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact