Identification

Title

Observations and modeling of increased nitric oxide in the Antarctic polar middle atmosphere associated with geomagnetic storm-driven energetic electron precipitation

Abstract

Nitric oxide (NO) produced in the polar middle and upper atmosphere by energetic particle precipitation depletes ozone in the mesosphere and, following vertical transport in the winter polar vortex, in the stratosphere. Medium-energy electron (MEE) ionization by 30-1,000 keV electrons during geomagnetic storms may have a significant role in mesospheric NO production. However, questions remain about the relative importance of direct NO production by MEE at altitudes similar to 60-90 km versus indirect NO originating from auroral ionization above 90 km. We investigate potential drivers of NO variability in the southern-hemisphere mesosphere and lower thermosphere during 2013-2014. Contrasting geomagnetic activity occurred during the two austral winters, with more numerous moderate storms in the 2013 winter. Ground-based millimeter-wave observations of NO from Halley, Antarctica, are compared with measurements by the Solar Occultation For Ice Experiment (SOFIE) spaceborne spectrometer. NO partial columns over the altitude range 65-140 km from the two observational data sets show large day-to-day variability and significant disagreement, with Halley values on average 49% higher than the corresponding SOFIE data. SOFIE NO number densities, zonally averaged over geomagnetic latitudes -59 degrees to -65 degrees, are up to 3 x 10(8)/cm(3) higher in the winter of 2013 compared to 2014. Comparisons with a new version of the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model, which includes detailed D-region ion chemistry (WACCM-SIC) and MEE ionization rates, show that the model underestimates NO in the winter lower mesosphere whereas thermospheric abundances are too high. This indicates the need to further improve and verify WACCM-SIC with respect to MEE ionization, thermospheric NO chemistry, and vertical transport.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7bp05nq

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

2018-07-01T00:00:00Z

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

Copypright 2018 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