Identification

Title

Effects of high-latitude input on neutral wind structure and forcing during the 17 March 2013 storm

Abstract

In this study, a quantitative assessment of the thermospheric wind forcing and its dependence on high‐latitude drivers is provided. Due to its coupling with the ionosphere via ion‐neutral collisions, the simulated neutral wind and the corresponding thermospheric forcing from Global Circulation Models (GCMs) are highly dependent on the model’s high‐latitude ionospheric input. To study the effects of the different ionospheric inputs, we simulate the thermospheric winds using the Thermosphere‐Ionosphere‐Electrodynamics GCM (TIE‐GCM) and compare them to the observed neutral wind vectors from the Scanning Doppler Imagers located in central Alaska during the St. Patrick’s Day storm in 2013. To assess the model‐data discrepancies, the standard root‐mean‐square error is calculated, as well as the cross‐correlation coefficient to better capture the structural differences between the simulated and observed winds. Additionally, individual thermospheric forces are analyzed, providing a full diagnosis of the relative importance of each force on the neutral wind behavior. It was found that the realistic high‐latitude input resulted in better simulations of neutral wind structures than the empirical model did, although there was a slightly higher magnitude error. Altering the auroral energy flux mostly affected the resulting neutral wind speeds while the wind structures remained about the same. In the zonal direction, ion‐drag is the dominant force, with significant contributions from the horizontal advection force and secondary contributions from the Coriolis and pressure‐gradient forces. In the meridional direction, pressure‐gradient is the dominant force, with secondary contributions from the ion‐drag force and minor contributions from the Coriolis, horizontal advection and viscosity forces.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

https://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7h41wt2

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

2025-03-01T00:00:00Z

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