Eight different electron ionization rates based on POES Medium Energy Proton and Electron Detector are compared • Differences of up to one order of magnitude between the highest and lowest ionization rates are found • The modeled response to the electron ionization rates varies by about a factor of eight in mesospheric NO density

Energetic particles from the Sun or the terrestrial magnetosphere precipitate into the atmosphere at high geomagnetic latitudes. Due to magnetospheric shielding, protons from solar coronal mass ejections can mainly precipitate into the atmosphere inside the polar caps polewards of ∼60° geomagnetic latitude. Electrons accelerated in the magnetotail to energies ranging from a few keV to hundreds of keV in auroral substorms precipitate in the auroral region. Electrons trapped in the outer radiation belt can be accelerated to energies from a few tens of keV to several MeV in geomagnetic storms initiated by solar coronal mass ejections or high-speed solar wind streams, and precipitate at mid-to-high latitudes, equatorwards of the auroral ovals (see review and references in Mironova et al. [2015]; Sinnhuber & Funke [2019]). The penetration depth of the precipitating particles depends on their energies, with auroral electrons mainly affecting the lower thermosphere above ∼90 km, radiation belt electrons precipitating further down into the middle atmosphere, even into the upper stratosphere (1 MeV electrons to ≈50 km, e.g. Fang et al. [2010]).

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