A. Maute

Impacts of vertically propagating tides on the mean state of the ionosphere‐thermosphere system

The National Center for Atmospheric Research Thermosphere-Ionosphere-Electrodynamics General Circulation Model (TIE-GCM) is utilized to understand the role that upward propagating tides play in determining the zonal mean state of the ionosphere-thermosphere system. A sensitivity assessment of the TIE-GCM shows that TIE-GCM solutions greatly depend on the lower boundary conditions. We also establish the veracity of our TIE-GCM solutions within and above the dynamo region. To isolate the mean effects of tidal dissipation, differences between TIE-GCM simulations with and without lower boundary tidal forcing as specified by the Climatological Tidal Model of the Thermosphere are investigated. Dissipation of the DW1, (diurnal westward propagating tide with zonal wave number 1), diurnal eastward propagating tide with zonal wave number 3, and SW2 (semidiurnal tide with zonal wave number 2) explains most of ∼10–30 m s−1 seasonal and latitudinal variability in zonal winds within the dynamo region, with SW2 playing a greater role than ascribed in previous studies. Tidal dissipation at low latitudes causes a 9% decrease (30% increase) in [O] ([O2]) number densities near the F2 layer peak, leading to at least a 9% decrease in peak electron density (NmF2) throughout the year. F2 layer peak height (hmF2) differences of -4 to 2 km at low latitudes are explained by variations in the field-aligned plasma motion driven by meridional wind differences induced by tidal dissipation. Compositional effects are mainly driven by DW1 and SW2, which differs from previous interpretations of tidal-driven composition changes by DW1 “tidal mixing” exclusively. We suggest that tides may produce a net transport of constituents in the thermosphere similar to the way that, e.g., gravity waves can drive net transport of sodium in the mesosphere.

On the day‐to‐day variation of the equatorial electrojet during quiet periods

It has been known for a long time that the equatorial electrojet varies from day to day even when solar and geomagnetic activities are very low. The quiet time day-to-day variation is considered to be due to irregular variability of the neutral wind, but little is known about how variable winds drive the electrojet variability. We employ a numerical model introduced by Liu et al. (2013), which takes into account weather changes in the lower atmosphere and thus can reproduce ionospheric variability due to forcing from below. The simulation is run for May and June 2009. Constant solar and magnetospheric energy inputs are used so that day-to-day changes will arise only from lower atmospheric forcing. The simulated electrojet current shows day-to-day variability of ±25%, which produces day-to-day variations in ground level geomagnetic perturbations near the magnetic equator. The current system associated with the day-to-day variation of the equatorial electrojet is traced based on a covariance analysis. The current pattern reveals return flow at both sides of the electrojet, in agreement with those inferred from ground-based magnetometer data in previous studies. The day-to-day variation in the electrojet current is compared with those in the neutral wind at various altitudes, latitudes, and longitudes. It is found that the electrojet variability is dominated by the zonal wind at 100–120 km altitudes near the magnetic equator. These results suggest that the response of the zonal polarization electric field to variable zonal winds is the main source of the day-to-day variation of the equatorial electrojet during quiet periods.

Electrodynamics of the equatorial evening ionosphere: 1. Importance of winds in different regions

The importance of winds at different altitudes and latitudes for the electrodynamics of the low-latitude evening ionosphere is examined with a model of the global coupled ionosphere-thermosphere system. The model reproduces the main observed features of the evening equatorial plasma vortex and the prereversal enhancement (PRE) of the vertical drift. The electrodynamics is driven primarily by the zonal wind forced by the diurnally varying zonal pressure-gradient force. The zonal wind lags the zonal pressure-gradient force owing to inertia. When ion drag is important, the time lag of the wind behind the pressure gradient force is shortened, and the high-altitude evening wind turns eastward earlier than the wind at lower altitudes, where ion drag is less important. Therefore, a vertical shear of the zonal wind tends to develop at altitudes around the transition between small and large ion drag at the bottom of the F region. This wind shear is closely associated with the vertical shear in the zonal convection velocity that is part of the evening plasma vortex. Unlike previous studies, we find that the winds driving the PRE lie mainly on field lines with apexes above the peak of the equatorial F layer, field lines that extend in magnetic latitude out to nearly 30° and encompass the entire evening equatorial ionization anomaly region. Contrary to previous suggestions, the westward convection in the bottomside of the evening plasma vortex is found to weaken, rather than strengthen, the PRE. Daytime winds have relatively little influence on the low-latitude evening electrodynamics.

TIME-GCM study of the ionospheric equatorial vertical drift changes during the 2006 stratospheric sudden warming

This modeling study quantifies the daytime low-latitude vertical E×B drift changes in the longitudinal wave number 1 (wn1) to wn4 during the major extended January 2006 stratospheric sudden warming (SSW) period as simulated by the National Center for Atmospheric Research thermosphere-ionosphere-mesosphere electrodynamics general circulation model (TIME-GCM), and attributes the drift changes to specific tides and planetary waves (PWs). The largest drift amplitude change (approximately 5 m/s) is seen in wn1 with a strong temporal correlation to the SSW. The wn1 drift is primarily caused by the semidiurnal westward propagating tide with zonal wave number 1 (SW1), and secondarily by a stationary planetary wave with zonal wave number 1 (PW1). SW1 is generated by the nonlinear interaction of PW1 and the migrating semidiurnal tide (SW2) at high latitude around 90–100 km. The simulations suggest that the E region PW1 around 100–130 km at the different latitudes has different origins: at high latitudes, the PW1 is related to the original stratospheric PW1; at midlatitudes, the model indicates PW1 is due to the nonlinear interaction of SW1 and SW2 around 95–105 km; and at low latitudes, the PW1 might be caused by the nonlinear interaction between DE2 and DE3. The time evolution of the simulated wn4 in the vertical E×B drift amplitude shows no temporal correlation with the SSW. The wn4 in the low-latitude vertical drift is attributed to the diurnal eastward propagating tide with zonal wave number 3 (DE3), and the contributions from SE2, TE1, and PW4 are negligible.

Forcing the TIEGCM model with Birkeland currents from the Active Magnetosphere and Planetary Electrodynamics Response Experiment

[1] Geomagnetic field-aligned currents from the Active Magnetosphere and Planetary Electrodynamics Response Experiment (AMPERE) satellite mission are used to drive the Thermosphere-Ionosphere-Electrodynamics General Circulation Model (TIEGCM). We present a comparison between ground magnetic signatures computed by the model and observations at four different geomagnetic observatories, for different magnetic disturbance levels. Results show the ability of the model to pick up the gross features of the magnetic variations, improving its performance with increasing disturbance level and from low to high latitudes. During geomagnetically quiescent conditions a baseline noise of about 5 nT is evident in reconstructed ground magnetic field signatures, which we attribute to the baseline noise level in the AMPERE currents. For variations shorter than about 30 min the modeled signals are often significantly lower than observed by a factor up to 3 to 4, possibly reflecting localized ionization structures not captured in the TIEGCM conductance modules, or missing small-scale and rapid temporal variations in auroral currents. While the observed horizontal field variations are reflected in the model, the vertical component is consistently underestimated, possibly indicating errors in the estimates for ground induction currents. Comparison with the standard version of the TIEGCM is also carried out, showing that time variations shorter than 6 h and down to the 10 min resolution of the AMPERE data (which do not appear in the standard version of TIEGCM) are now reflected in the AMPERE-driven model.

Impact of the semidiurnal lunar tide on the midlatitude thermospheric wind and ionosphere during sudden stratosphere warmings

Variability of the midlatitude ionosphere and thermosphere during the 2009 and 2013 sudden stratosphere warmings (SSWs) is investigated in the present study using a combination of Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate (COSMIC) observations and thermosphere -ionosphere-mesosphere electrodynamics general circulation model (TIME-GCM) simulations. Both the COSMIC observations and TIME-GCM simulations reveal perturbations in the F region peak height (hmF2) at Southern Hemisphere midlatitudes during SSW time periods. The perturbations are ∼20–30 km, which corresponds to 10–20% variability of the background mean hmF2. The TIME-GCM simulations and COSMIC observations of the hmF2 variability are in overall good agreement, and the simulations can thus be used to understand the physical processes responsible for the hmF2 variability. Through comparison of simulations with and without the migrating semidiurnal lunar tide (M2), we conclude that the midlatitude hmF2 variability is primarily driven by the propagation of the M2 into the thermosphere where it modulates the field-aligned neutral winds, which in turn raise and lower the F region peak height. Though there are subtle differences, the consistency of the behavior between the 2009 and 2013 SSWs suggests that variability in the Southern Hemisphere midlatitude ionosphere and thermosphere is a consistent feature of the SSW impact on the upper atmosphere.

Causes of the longitudinal differences in the equatorial vertical E × B drift during the 2013 SSW period as simulated by the TIME‐GCM

During stratospheric sudden warming (SSW) periods large changes in the low-latitude vertical drift have been observed at Jicamarca as well as in other longitudinal sectors. In general, a strengthening of the daytime maximum vertical drift with a shift from prenoon to the afternoon is observed. During the January 2013 stratospheric warming significant longitudinal differences in the equatorial vertical drift were observed. At Jicamarca the previously reported SSW behavior prevails; however, no shift of the daytime maximum drift was exhibited in the African sector. Using the National Center for Atmospheric Research thermosphere-ionosphere-mesosphere electrodynamics general circulation model (TIME-GCM) the possible causes for the longitudinal difference are examined. The timing of the strong SSW effect in the vertical drift (15–20 January) coincides with moderate geomagnetic activity. The simulation indicates that approximately half of the daytime vertical drift increase in the American sector may be related to the moderate geophysical conditions (Kp = 4) with the effect being negligible in the African sector. The simulation suggests that the wind dynamo accounts for approximately 50% of the daytime vertical drift in the American sector and almost 100% in the African sector. The simulation agrees with previous findings that the migrating solar tides and the semidiurnal westward propagating tide with zonal wave number 1 (SW1) mainly contribute to the daytime wind dynamo and vertical drift. Numerical experiments suggest that the neutral wind and the geomagnetic main field contribute to the presence (absence) of a local time shift in the daytime maximum drift in the American (African) sector.

Ground magnetic effects of the equatorial electrojet simulated by the TIE-GCM driven by TIMED satellite data

Quiet-time daily variations of the geomagnetic field near the magnetic equator due to the equatorial electrojet are simulated using the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Thermosphere-Ionosphere Electro- dynamics General Circulation Model (TIE-GCM), and compared to those observed by ground-based magnetometers. Simulations are run both with and without tidal forcing at the height of the model lower boundary (∼97 km). When the lower-boundary forcing is off, the wind that generates an electro- motive force in the model is primarily the vertically non-propagating diurnal tide, which is excited in the thermosphere due to daytime solar ultra-violet heating. The lower-boundary tidal forcing adds the effect of upward-propagating tides, which are excited in the lower atmosphere and propagate vertically to the thermosphere. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the relative importance of these thermospherically-generated tides and upward-propagating tides in the generation of the equatorial electrojet. Fairly good agreement is obtained between model and observations when the model is forced by realistic lower-boundary tides based on temperature and wind measurements from the Thermosphere-Ionosphere-Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED) satellite, as determined by Wu et al. [2012]. The simulation results show that the effect of upward-propagating tides increases the range of the geomagnetic daily variation in the magnetic-northward component at the magnetic equator approximately by 100%. It is also shown that the well-known semiannual change in the daily variation is mostly due to upward-propagating tides, especially the migrating semidiurnal tide. These results indicate that upward-propagating tides play a substantial role in producing the equatorial electrojet and its seasonal variability.

Improved short-term variability in the thermosphere-ionosphere-mesosphere-electrodynamics general circulation model

We report on a new source of tidal variability in the National Center for Atmospheric Research thermosphere-ionosphere-mesosphere-electrodynamics general circulation model (TIME-GCM). Lower boundary forcing of the TIME-GCM for a simulation of November–December 2009 based on 3-hourly Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Application (MERRA) reanalysis data includes day-to-day variations in both diurnal and semidiurnal tides of tropospheric origin. Comparison with TIME-GCM results from a heretofore standard simulation that includes climatological tropospheric tides from the global-scale wave model reveal evidence of the impacts of MERRA forcing throughout the model domain, including measurable tidal variability in the TIME-GCM upper thermosphere. Additional comparisons with measurements made by the Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer satellite show improved TIME-GCM capability to capture day-to-day variations in thermospheric density for the November–December 2009 period with the new MERRA lower boundary forcing.

Modeling the Storm Time Electrodynamics

A model that electrodynamically couples inner magnetosphere, ionosphere, plasmasphere, thermosphere, and electrodynamics has been developed and is used to separate sources of the storm time electric fields between the magnetospheric, ionospheric, and thermospheric processes and to investigate their nonlinear interactions. The two sources of the electric-field disturbances, prompt penetration (PP) and disturbance dynamo (DD), have been identified in the coupled model results. Furthermore, the results suggest that the sources of variability in storm time electric fields are associated with the nonlinear interaction between the PP and DD, such that the response depends on the preconditioning of the coupled system. The preconditioning in this study is caused by the fact that the magnetosphere, ionosphere, and thermosphere respond to external forcing as a coupled system. The results clearly demonstrate the need for a fully coupled model of magnetosphere–ionosphere–thermosphere, in order to determine the preconditioning effect.