Identification

Title

Formation of the equatorial thermosphere anomaly trough: Local time and solar cycle variations

Abstract

This paper evaluates the formation and behavior of the equatorial thermosphere anomaly (ETA) trough in neutral temperature and mass density using the National Center for Atmospheric Research thermosphere-ionosphere electrodynamics general circulation model under quiet geomagnetic activity and March equinox conditions. The driving mechanism for the generation of the ETA trough in the model is field-aligned ion drag. In our simulations, during the daytime, field-aligned ion drag on the north-south flanks of the magnetic equator causes a divergence in meridional winds, leading to an upward change in vertical winds, adiabatic cooling, and a reduction in neutral temperature of about 30 K over the magnetic equator near 400 km. This response closely links ETA behavior to variations in the equatorial ionosphere anomaly (EIA) associated with local time and solar cycle. As the EIA begins to disappear in the evening, the processes in the ETA mechanism recede, causing the ETA trough to subside. The ETA trough is not completely eliminated until about after 23:00 LT. In our simulations, the trough becomes more prominent as the solar cycle progresses from low (F10.7=80) to high (F10.7=180), in agreement with observations. The neutral-ion collision frequency (proportional to variations in electron density) controls ETA day-to-night and solar cycle variations, while plasma scale height and gradients in electron number density and plasma temperature produce a secondary structure in ETA local time behavior that varies with solar cycle levels.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d77s7pr1

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

2014-12-01T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

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