[1] The new Horizontal Wind Model (HWM07) provides a statistical representation of the horizontal wind fields of the Earth's atmosphere from the ground to the exosphere (0-500 km). It represents over 50 years of satellite, rocket, and ground-based wind measurements via a compact Fortran 90 subroutine. The computer model is a function of geographic location, altitude, day of the year, solar local time, and geomagnetic activity. It includes representations of the zonal mean circulation, stationary planetary waves, migrating tides, and the seasonal modulation thereof. HWM07 is composed of two components, a quiet time component for the background state described in this paper and a geomagnetic storm time component (DWM07) described in a companion paper.

[1] We analyze ground-based Fabry-Perot interferometer observations of upper thermospheric ($250 km) horizontal neutral winds derived from Doppler shifts in the 630.0 nm (red line) nightglow. The winds were measured over the following locations: South Pole (90°S), Halley (76°S, 27°W), Arequipa (17°S, 72°W), Arecibo (18°N, 67°W), Millstone Hill (43°N, 72°W), Søndre Strømfjord (67°N, 51°W), and Thule (77°N, 68°W). We derive climatological quiet time (Kp < 3) wind patterns as a function of local time, solar cycle, day of year, and the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF), and provide parameterized representations of these patterns. At the high-latitude stations, and at Arequipa near the geomagnetic equator, wind speeds tend to increase with increasing solar extreme ultraviolet (EUV) irradiance. Over Millstone Hill and Arecibo, solar EUV has a negative effect on wind magnitudes. As represented by the 10.7 cm radio flux proxy, the solar EUV dependence of the winds at all latitudes is characterized by a saturation or weakening of the effect above moderate values (F 10.7 > 150). The seasonal dependence of the winds is generally annual, but there are isolated cases in which a semiannual variation is observed. Within the austral winter, winds measured from the South Pole show a substantial intraseasonal variation only along longitudes directed toward the magnetic pole. IMF effects are described in a companion paper.

[1] We present a global empirical disturbance wind model (DWM07) that represents average geospace-storm-induced perturbations of upper thermospheric (200-600 km altitude) neutral winds. DWM07 depends on the following three parameters: magnetic latitude, magnetic local time, and the 3-h Kp geomagnetic activity index. The latitude and local time dependences are represented by vector spherical harmonic functions (up to degree 10 in latitude and order 3 in local time), and the Kp dependence is represented by quadratic B-splines. DWM07 is the storm time thermospheric component of the new Horizontal Wind Model (HWM07), which is described in a companion paper. DWM07 is based on data from the Wind Imaging Interferometer on board the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, the Wind and Temperature Spectrometer on board Dynamics Explorer 2, and seven ground-based Fabry-Perot interferometers. The perturbation winds derived from the three data sets are in good mutual agreement under most conditions, and the model captures most of the climatological variations evident in the data.