HR: 1330h
AN: SM32B-1163    [PDF]
TI: The Effect of Joule Heating on Neutral Density
AU: * Chun, F K
EM: Francis.Chun@usafa.af.mil
AF: Department of Physics, USAF Academy, 2354 Fairchild Drive, Suite 2A31, USAF Academy, CO 80840 United States
AU: McHarg, M G
EM: Matthew.McHarg@usafa.af.mil
AF: Department of Physics, USAF Academy, 2354 Fairchild Drive, Suite 2A31, USAF Academy, CO 80840 United States
AU: Knipp, D J
EM: Delores.Knipp@usafa.af.mil
AF: Department of Physics, USAF Academy, 2354 Fairchild Drive, Suite 2A31, USAF Academy, CO 80840 United States
AU: Marcos, F
EM: Frank.Marcos@hanscom.af.mil
AF: Air Force Research Laboratory, AFRL/VSBX, Hanscom AFB, MA 01731 United States
AB: The amount of Joule heating in the upper atmosphere is known to be affected by solar radiation and geomagnetic activity. This heating can lead to an expansion of the upper atmosphere and increase the drag on low-earth orbiting satellites. Currently, the ap index is used as a geomagnetic proxy for neutral density. However, recent studies have shown that Joule heating in the upper atmosphere, and presumably neutral density, can be estimated fairly well by the polar cap (PC) and Dst indices. In this study, we present correlations of neutral density data from the CHAMP satellite to Joule heating spatial distributions from the Assimilative Mapping of Ionospheric Electrodynamics (AMIE) as parameterized by the polar cap index. The CHAMP densities are from days 134 to 182 for the year 2001 at a normalized altitude of 450 km. Preliminary results have shown that in regions of enhanced Joule heating, the neutral density at 450 km as determined from CHAMP data also increases. Further analysis will focus on identifying a temporal relationship between neutral density and Joule heating.
DE: 2427 Ionosphere/atmosphere interactions (0335)
DE: 2431 Ionosphere/magnetosphere interactions (2736)
DE: 2736 Magnetosphere/ionosphere interactions
DE: 2784 Solar wind/magnetosphere interactions
SC: SPA - Magnetospheric Physics [SM]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting