HR: 15:25h
AN: SM42D-08    [PDF]
TI: Atmospheric Effects of Solar/Geomagnetic Disturbances: the Role of Initial Atmospheric States
AU: * Yee, J
EM: sam.yee@jhuapl.edu
AF: The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, MD 20723 United States
AU: Talaat, E R
EM: elsayed.talaat@jhuapl.edu
AF: The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, MD 20723 United States
AU: Crowley, G
EM: gcrowley@swri.edu
AF: Southwest Research Institute, Space Sciences and Engineering 6220 Culebra Road, San Antonio, TX 78228 United States
AU: Roble, R
EM: roble@ucar.edu
AF: NCAR, High Altitude Observatory 3450 Mitchell Lane, Boulder, CO 80301 United States
AB: This paper will investigate how the initial atmospheric composition, temperature, and wind and dynamic states affect the extent and duration of the neutral atmosphere and ionosphere response to various solar and geomagnetic disturbances. The variable energy inputs during solar and geomagnetically disturbed times drive important chemical reactions involving energetically-important minor species such as O and NO throughout the high-latitude mesosphere and lower thermosphere. These changes are transported in latitude and altitude, affecting the global thermal structure and composition. Changes in the thermal structure will ultimately result in changes in the circulation pattern that provide feedback to the time-varying atmospheric effects. In addition the disturbed wind patterns can affect the distribution of ionospheric density, such as contributing to variations in the Appleton anomaly. As a result, it is anticipated that the extent of the responses will depend on the initial atmospheric condition. For example, the season during which the disturbance(s) occur, at what point in the 11-year solar cycle, and whether the disturbance is an isolated event or part of a series, such as the recent April 2002 storms, will affect the magnitude and structure of the changes in the O/N2 ratio, ionospheric density, etc. In this paper we investigate the response at these various atmospheric conditions using mechanistic runs of first principle general circulation models of the upper atmosphere.
DE: 0358 Thermosphere--energy deposition
DE: 2427 Ionosphere/atmosphere interactions (0335)
DE: 2437 Ionospheric dynamics
DE: 2447 Modeling and forecasting
SC: SPA - Magnetospheric Physics [SM]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting