Energy transport in the thermosphere during the solar storms of April 2002

Mlynczak, Martin G.; Martín‐Torres, Javier; Crowley, G.; Kratz, David P.; Funke, B.; Lu, G.; López‐Puertas, Manuel; Russell, James M.; Kozyra, J. U.; Mertens, C. J.; Sharma, Renuka; Gordley, L. L.; Picard, R. H.; Winick, J. R.; Paxton, L. J.

doi:10.1029/2005ja011141

Cited by 121 publications

(217 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…A correction factor is applied to the derived emission rate to provide the full volume emission rate from the 1-0, 2-1, and 3-2 vibrational bands of the NO molecule. The correction factor is derived from theoretical modeling of the NO emission spectrum as discussed by Mlynczak et al [2005]. Excellent agreement has been found between the SABER correction factor and that computed from actual thermospheric spectra measured by the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding experiment [Gardner et al, 2007].…”

Section: Saber Observationsmentioning

confidence: 78%

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On the relationship of Joule heating and nitric oxide radiative cooling in the thermosphere

et al. 2010

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[1] During geomagnetic storms Joule heating dissipation is the dominant form of magnetospheric energy input that is responsible for many chemical and dynamical variations in the thermosphere. One such thermospheric variation is the dramatic increase of thermospheric temperature and nitric oxide (NO) density and thus radiative emission by NO. This paper gives for the first time a quantitative assessment of the relationship between global Joule heating power and global NO radiative cooling power. It is found that, when averaged over a time interval of 24 h along with a time lag of 10 h, global Joule heating power is closely correlated with global NO cooling power. On average, the increased energy release through NO 5.3 mm infrared emission accounts for about 80% of Joule heating energy input under disturbed conditions. The paper also presents a first attempt to parameterize global NO power using the Kp and F 10.7 indices. Under nonstorm conditions the best correlation is found when the daily global NO power lags behind the solar flux input by 1 day. The predicted NO power based on this parameterization scheme reproduces many features in the observed global NO power by the Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) instrument over the 7 year period from 2002 to 2008. The predicted global NO power correlates well with the SABER measurements, with a correlation coefficient of 0.89.

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Section: Saber Observationsmentioning

confidence: 78%

“…These measurements have greatly improved our understanding of thermospheric energetics [e.g., Mlynczak et al, 2003Mlynczak et al, , 2005Mlynczak et al, , 2007Mlynczak et al, , 2008. However, a quantitative assessment of the global thermospheric energy budget has yet to be determined.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the relationship of Joule heating and nitric oxide radiative cooling in the thermosphere

et al. 2010

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“…As discussed in the Introduction, particle precipitation and Joule heating act to increase the amount of NO in the thermosphere. This extra NO then acts as an efficient radiative cooler for the thermosphere, acting as a natural thermostat [Mlynczak et al, 2005].…”

Section: Derivation Of Dt C From Auroral Heatingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…During disturbed periods, the Joule heating is a larger source of energy than particle precipitation [Richmond et al, 1990;Lu et al, 1995;Anderson et al, 1998; [5] Solar radiation, auroral particle precipitation, and Joule heating also affect the chemistry of the thermosphere, most notably by enhancing the level of nitric oxide (NO) in the lower thermosphere. It is known that NO is an efficient radiative cooler for the thermosphere [Sharma et al, 1996;Duff et al, 2003], and it has been postulated that this radiative cooling acts as a "natural thermostat" in mitigating the effects of intense solar disturbances on the atmosphere [Mlynczak et al, 2005]. The reaction between atomic nitrogen and molecular oxygen that produces NO is strongly dependent on temperature [Bailey et al, 2002].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predicting global average thermospheric temperature changes resulting from auroral heating

et al. 2011

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[1] The total Poynting flux flowing into both polar hemispheres as a function of time, computed with an empirical model, is compared with measurements of neutral densities in the thermosphere at two altitudes obtained from accelerometers on the CHAMP and GRACE satellites. The Jacchia-Bowman 2008 empirical thermospheric density model (JB2008) is used to facilitate the comparison. This model calculates a background level for the "global nighttime minimum exospheric temperature," T c , from solar indices. Corrections to this background level due to auroral heating, DT c , are presently computed from the Dst index. A proxy measurement of this temperature difference, DT c , is obtained by matching the CHAMP and GRACE density measurements with the JB2008 model. Through the use of a differential equation, the DT c correction can be predicted from IMF values. The resulting calculations correlate very well with the orbit-averaged measurements of DT c , and correlate better than the values derived from Dst. Results indicate that the thermosphere cools faster following time periods with greater ionospheric heating. The enhanced cooling is likely due to nitric oxide (NO) that is produced at a higher rate in proportion to the ionospheric heating, and this effect is simulated in the differential equations. As the DT c temperature correction from this model can be used as a direct substitute for the Dst-derived correction that is now used in JB200, it could be possible to predict DT c with greater accuracy and lead time.

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“…Mulligan et al: Inferring hydroxyl layer peak heights from ground-based measurements of OH employed in this study. These profiles are calculated from Abel inversions of the SABER limb radiance profile (LopezPuertas et al, 2004) followed by correction for instrument spectral response by the use of an "unfilter" factor as described by Mlynczak et al (2005). The OH-B band channel is sensitive in the range 1.56-1.72 µm which includes mostly the OH(4-2) and OH(5-3) bands and was selected in preference to the OH-A channel, which includes mostly the v=2 bands originating in levels 9 and 8, because the higher vibrational bands tend to have their maxima at higher altitude (Kaufmann et al, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inferring hydroxyl layer peak heights from ground-based measurements of OH(6-2) band integrated emission rate at Longyearbyen (78° N, 16° E)

Mulligan

Dyrland²,

Sigernes³

et al. 2009

Ann. Geophys.

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Abstract. Measurements of hydroxyl nightglow emissions over Longyearbyen (78 • N, 16 • E) recorded simultaneously by the SABER instrument onboard the TIMED satellite and a ground-based Ebert-Fastie spectrometer have been used to derive an empirical formula for the height of the OH layer as a function of the integrated emission rate (IER). Altitude profiles of the OH volume emission rate (VER) derived from SABER observations over a period of more than six years provided a relation between the height of the OH layer peak and the integrated emission rate following the procedure described by Liu and Shepherd (2006). An extended period of overlap of SABER and ground-based spectrometer measurements of OH(6-2) IER during the 2003-2004 winter season allowed us to express ground-based IER values in terms of their satellite equivalents. The combination of these two formulae provided a method for inferring an altitude of the OH emission layer over Longyearbyen from ground-based measurements alone. Such a method is required when SABER is in a southward looking yaw cycle. In the SABER data for the period 2002-2008, the peak altitude of the OH layer ranged from a minimum near 76 km to a maximum near 90 km. The uncertainty in the inferred altitude of the peak emission, which includes a contribution for atmospheric extinction, was estimated to be ±2.7 km and is comparable with the ±2.6 km value quoted for the nominal altitude (87 km) of the OH layer. Longer periods of overlap of satellite and ground-based measurements together with simultaneous onsite measurements of atmospheric extinction could reduce the uncertainty to approximately 2 km.

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Energy transport in the thermosphere during the solar storms of April 2002

Cited by 121 publications

References 31 publications

On the relationship of Joule heating and nitric oxide radiative cooling in the thermosphere

On the relationship of Joule heating and nitric oxide radiative cooling in the thermosphere

Predicting global average thermospheric temperature changes resulting from auroral heating

Inferring hydroxyl layer peak heights from ground-based measurements of OH(6-2) band integrated emission rate at Longyearbyen (78° N, 16° E)

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