Identification

Title

Wind and temperature effects on thermosphere mass density response to the November 2004 geomagnetic storm [correction]

Abstract

A unique conjunction of the Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED) and the Challenging Minisatellite Payload (CHAMP) satellites provided simultaneous columnar neutral composition, ΣO/N2, and thermosphere density observations, enabling a novel study of thermospheric response to the 7–9 November 2004 geomagnetic storm. Both ΣO/N2 and mass density showed profound response to this severe geomagnetic storm, but their latitudinal and temporal structures differed markedly. In particular, high-latitude depletion and low-latitude enhancement in ΣO/N2 were observed throughout the storm period, especially during the main phase. In contrast, neutral density at 400 km altitude increased from pole to pole shortly after the storm, with strongest enhancement of order 200%–400% during the main phase. Comparisons of observed thermosphere response with simulations from the National Center for Atmospheric Research Thermosphere-Ionosphere-Electrodynamics General Circulation Model (TIEGCM) were carried out to interpret the observed contrasting characteristics of thermosphere composition and mass density in response to this geomagnetic storm. The TIEGCM simulations show that the contrasting characteristics occur not only in ΣO/N2 and mass density at a constant altitude at 400 km, but also in O/N2 and mass density on a constant-pressure surface. At an altitude of 400 km (CHAMP altitude), storm-time mass densities significantly increase due to an increase in scale height throughout the vertical column between the heat source and satellite altitude. For a given increase in scale height, the more scale height increments separating the heat source from the satellite altitude, the greater is the mass density response. It is shown that scale height change is caused partly by storm-time neutral temperature enhancements due to heating and partly by changes in mean molecular weight due to winds. These findings indicate that wind effects can cause significant deviations from a mass density pattern resulting solely from neutral temperature changes by altering the mean molecular weight, particularly at high latitudes.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7h1339j

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

2010-05-04T00:00:00Z

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