HR: 08:00h
AN: SA41A-01 INVITED     [Abstracts]
TI: Winds in the Thermosphere
AU: * Killeen, T L
EM: killeen@ucar.edu
AF: National Center for Atmospheric Research, PO Box 3000, Boulder, CO 80307-3000 United States
AU: Burns, A G
EM: aburns@ucar.edu
AF: National Center for Atmospheric Research, PO Box 3000, Boulder, CO 80307-3000 United States
AB: T. L. Killeen and A. G. Burns Studies of thermospheric dynamics began in the middle 1960s, when King suggested that winds would flow from the hot afternoon sector into the cooler morning region. Later work showed that winds were also driven by the high latitude ion convection pattern and by waves propagating upwards from the lower atmosphere. Ground based Fabry-Perot Interferometers (FPIs) were soon developed that could measure these winds. These interferometers have been deployed successfully both at a variety of ground based locations and in space. Other types of instruments, such as the DE-FPI, WATS and the WINDII instruments, have been deployed successfully in space. The development of thermospheric general circulation models (GCMs) has also greatly increased our understanding of the dynamics of the thermosphere and the way that these dynamics develop as forcing changes. Recent developments include thermosphere-ionosphere GCMs that are coupled with the magnetosphere and improved empirical wind models. In this presentation we summarize the history of thermospheric dynamics. In addition, we discuss current developments with reference to some new, coupled model results that show a number of unexpected features such as strong vertical gradients of horizontal winds in certain conditions and a complex morphology of the dawn convection pattern. Lastly, we suggest some future directions for investigations of the winds in the thermosphere.
DE: 0310 Airglow and aurora
DE: 0355 Thermosphere: composition and chemistry
DE: 0358 Thermosphere: energy deposition (3369)
DE: 0394 Instruments and techniques
SC: SPA-Aeronomy [SA]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005