Identification

Title

Modeled and observed equatorial thermospheric winds and temperatures

Abstract

Thermospheric winds and temperatures must be correctly specified to understand the impacts of lower atmosphere processes on the upper atmosphere and to measure the global effects of high-latitude magnetospheric processes. Fabry-Perot interferometers can estimate these parameters by measuring the characteristic 630.0 nm emission that is produced at around 250 km altitude. These sophisticated instruments exist at only a few locations globally, so models are often employed to provide wind and temperature estimates elsewhere. This study is composed of two parts. First, observing system simulation experiments estimate the accuracy of Fabry-Perot interferometer observations using the Thermosphere-Ionosphere-Electrodynamics General Circulation Model (TIEGCM) and the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model eXtended (WACCM-X). Atmospheric observational error sources are found to be very small across two test periods (September 2000 and September 2010) and using two different "truth" models. The largest magnitude wind observation error is found to be 16.9 m/s, root-mean-square errors are 2.3 m/s, and the bias is 0.9 m/s. The largest-magnitude temperature observation error is found to be 63.7 K, root-mean-square errors over the test period are 6.7 K, and the bias is 2.8 K. Modeled redline emission altitudes vary by over 100 km, far more than was expected. Second, several models (TIEGCM, WACCM-X, the Horizontal Wind Model, and the Mass Spectrometer Incoherent Scatter model) are assessed using interferometer winds and temperatures from Cariri and Cajazeiras, Brazil, as ground truth. In the best cases, the models reproduce wind variability without systematic biases but show no ability to predict instantaneous values, although temperatures are modeled more accurately.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7sq91kz

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

2015-07-01T00:00:00Z

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