Identification

Title

Mesospheric dynamical changes induced by the solar proton events in October-November 2003

Abstract

The Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Electrodynamic General Circulation Model (TIME-GCM) was used to study the atmospheric dynamical influence of the solar protons that occurred in Oct-Nov 2003, the fourth largest period of solar proton events (SPEs) measured in the past 40 years. The highly energetic solar protons produced odd hydrogen (HO<sub>x</sub>) and odd nitrogen (NO<sub>y</sub>). Significant short-lived ozone decreases (10-70%) followed these enhancements of HO<sub>x</sub> and NO<sub>y</sub> and led to a cooling of most of the lower mesosphere. Temperature changes up to ±2.6 K were computed as well as wind (zonal, meridional, vertical) perturbations up to 20-25% of the background winds as a result of the solar protons. The solar proton-induced mesospheric temperature and wind perturbations diminished over a period of 4-6 weeks after the SPEs. The Joule heating in the mesosphere, induced by the solar protons, was computed to be relatively insignificant for these solar storms.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7d21xv9

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

2007-02-27T00:00:00Z

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

Copyright 2007 American Geophysical Union.

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

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 date

2025-07-17T17:03:06.793845

Metadata language

eng; USA