Numerical modelling of the thermospheric heat budget

Gordiet︠s︡, B. F.; Kulikov, Yu. N.; Markov, M. N.; Marov, M. Ya.

doi:10.1029/ja087ia06p04504

Cited by 126 publications

(84 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Equation ( * * ) is derived assuming a balance between the rate of energy transferred from the mean motion to the fluctuations on one side and the rates of turbulent energy dissipation due to viscosity and buoyancy force on the other side in a steady state (Chandra, 1980;Gordiets et al, 1982). This balance assumes that the fluctuations are stationary, homogeneous, and isotropic.…”

Section: Uncertainty Of An Eddy Diffusion Coefficient Inferred From Ementioning

confidence: 99%

Criterion for analyzing experimental data on eddy diffusion coefficients

Vlasov

Kelley

2014

Ann. Geophys.

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Abstract. Problems exist in estimating the eddy heat transport coefficient, K eh , from experimental data. These problems are due to uncertainty in determining the turbulent energy dissipation rate and to the uncertainty of K eh dependence on the energy dissipation rate. In this paper, a new criterion for estimating the eddy heat transport coefficient is suggested. This criterion is based on the effect of eddy turbulence on the energy budget of the upper mesosphere and lower thermosphere. The calculations show high cooling around and above the K eh peak for K eh values inferred from experimental data. The cooling rates are much higher than cooling rates corresponding to the temperature given by the MSIS-E-90 model or to temperatures measured during the experiments. The main contribution to high cooling rates is due to the term with eddy heat conduction, which strongly depends on the K eh gradient. According to our results, the heating/cooling values below the K eh peak altitude correspond to the temperature given by the MSIS-E-90 model, but at the peak and above, the cooling rates are larger by a factor of 2-3 than the rates corresponding to the temperatures. This means that the K eh values in the peak and above may be overestimated. Application of this criterion to the Turbulent Oxygen Mixing Experiment (TOMEX) data shows that eddy diffusions inferred from observing chemical tracers in TOMEX are strongly overestimated.

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Section: Uncertainty Of An Eddy Diffusion Coefficient Inferred From Ementioning

confidence: 99%

Criterion for analyzing experimental data on eddy diffusion coefficients

Vlasov

Kelley

2014

Ann. Geophys.

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“…It is well known that a temperature enhancement can be caused by dissipation of turbulent energy (Gordiets et al, 1982). The eddy diffusion associated with the turbulence can in turn strongly influence the nitric oxide profile due to the very long chemical lifetime of the species.…”

Section: Analysis Of the Effects Of Turbulencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…(5). The heating rate due to the dissipation of turbulent energy is given by the relation (Gordiets et al, 1982):…”

Section: Analysis Of the Effects Of Turbulencementioning

confidence: 99%

Eddy turbulence parameters inferred from radar observations at Jicamarca

2007

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Abstract. Significant electron density striations, neutral temperatures 27 K above nominal, and intense wind shear were observed in the E-region ionosphere over the Jicamarca Radio Observatory during an unusual event on 26 July 2005 (Hysell et al., 2007). In this paper, these results are used to estimate eddy turbulence parameters and their effects. Models for the thermal balance in the mesosphere/lower thermosphere and the charged particle density in the E region are developed here. The thermal balance model includes eddy conduction and viscous dissipation of turbulent energy as well as cooling by infrared radiation. The production and recombination of ions and electrons in the E region, together with the production and transport of nitric oxide, are included in the plasma density model. Good agreement between the model results and the experimental data is obtained for an eddy diffusion coefficient of about 1×10 3 m 2 /s at its peak, which occurs at an altitude of 107 km. This eddy turbulence results in a local maximum of the temperature in the upper mesosphere/lower thermosphere and could correspond either to an unusually high mesopause or to a double mesosphere. Although complicated by plasma dynamic effects and ongoing controversy, our interpretation of Farley-Buneman wave phase velocity (Hysell et al., 2007) is consistent with a low Brunt-Väisälä frequency in the region of interest. Nitric oxide transport due to eddy diffusion from the lower thermosphere to the mesosphere causes electron density changes in the E region whereas NO density modulation due to irregularities in the eddy diffusion coefficient creates variability in the electron density.

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“…The 15 µm emission from CO 2 is the dominant cooling mechanism in the MLT region (Gordiets et al, 1982;Dickinson, 1984;Sharma and Wintersteiner, 1990;Wintersteiner et al, 1992;Sharma and Roble, 2002). The magnitude of this cooling impacts both the temperature and height of the terrestrial mesopause (Bougher et al, 1994).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Technical Note: On the possibly missing mechanism of 15 μm emission in the mesosphere–lower thermosphere (MLT)

Sharma

2015

Atmos. Chem. Phys.

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Abstract. Accurate knowledge of the rate as well as the mechanism of excitation of the bending mode of CO 2 is necessary for reliable modeling of the mesosphere-lower thermosphere (MLT) region of the atmosphere. Assuming the excitation mechanism to be thermal collisions with atomic oxygen, the rate coefficient derived from the observed 15 µm emission by space-based experiments (k ATM = 6.0 × 10 −12 cm 3 s −1 ) differs from the laboratory measurements (k LAB = (1.5−2.5)×10−12 cm 3 s −1 ) by a factor of 2-4. The general circulation models (GCMs) of Earth, Venus, and Mars have chosen to use a median value of k GCM = 3.0 × 10 −12 cm 3 s −1 for this rate coefficient. As a first step to resolve the discrepancies between the three rate coefficients, we attempt to find the source of disagreement between the first two. It is pointed out that a large magnitude of the difference between these two rate coefficients (k x ≡ k ATM − k LAB ) requires that the unknown mechanism involve one or both major species: N 2 , O. Because of the rapidly decreasing volume mixing ratio (VMR) of CO 2 with altitude, the exciting partner must be long lived and transfer energy efficiently. It is shown that thermal collisions with N 2 , mediated by a near-resonant rotation-to-vibration (RV) energy transfer process, while giving a reasonable rate coefficient k VR for deexcitation of the bending mode of CO 2 , lead to vibration-totranslation k VT rate coefficients in the terrestrial atmosphere that are 1-2 orders of magnitude larger than those observed in the laboratory. It is pointed out that the efficient nearresonant rotation-to-vibration (RV) energy transfer process has a chance of being the unknown mechanism if very high rotational levels of N 2 , produced by the reaction of N and NO and other collisional processes, have a super-thermal population and are long lived. Since atomic oxygen plays a critical role in the mechanisms discussed here, it suggested that its density be determined experimentally by ground-and spacebased Raman lidars proposed earlier.

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Numerical modelling of the thermospheric heat budget

Cited by 126 publications

References 29 publications

Criterion for analyzing experimental data on eddy diffusion coefficients

Criterion for analyzing experimental data on eddy diffusion coefficients

Eddy turbulence parameters inferred from radar observations at Jicamarca

Technical Note: On the possibly missing mechanism of 15 μm emission in the mesosphere–lower thermosphere (MLT)

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