HR: 1340h
AN: SA23A-0382    [Abstracts]
TI: Direct Comparisons of Energetic Electron Precipitation and Nitric Oxide in the Upper Atmosphere During Geomagnetic Storms
AU: Saetre, C
EM: camilla.satre@ift.uib.no
AF: University of Bergen, Allegaten 55, Bergen, 5007 Norway
AU: * Baker, D N
EM: baker@lasp.colorado.edu
AF: LASP - University of Colorado, 1234 Innovation Drive, Boulder, CO 80303-7814 United States
AU: Barth, C A
EM: charles.barth@lasp.colorado.edu
AF: LASP - University of Colorado, 1234 Innovation Drive, Boulder, CO 80303-7814 United States
AU: Stadsnes, J
EM: johan.stadsnes@ift.uib.no
AF: University of Bergen, Allegaten 55, Bergen, 5007 Norway
AU: Ostgaard, N
EM: nikost@ift.uib.no
AF: University of Bergen, Allegaten 55, Bergen, 5007 Norway
AU: Aksnes, A
EM: arve.aksnes@ift.uib.no
AF: University of Bergen, Allegaten 55, Bergen, 5007 Norway
AU: Nesse, H
EM: hnesse@ift.uib.no
AF: University of Bergen, Allegaten 55, Bergen, 5007 Norway
AU: Petrinec, S M
EM: petrinec@mail.spasci.com
AF: Lockheed Martin ATC, 3251 Hanover St. L9-42 B/255, Palo Alto, CA 94304 United States
AB: Nitric oxide (NO) densities in the lower thermosphere are in this study directly compared with the energy deposition from precipitating energetic electrons. The comparisons are made for geomagnetic storm time events in 1998. The electron energy is derived from X-ray bremsstrahlung observations from the Polar Ionospheric X-ray Imaging Experiment (PIXIE) on board the Polar spacecraft. Measurements of the NO volume density are performed by the Student Nitric Oxide Explorer (SNOE) on the dayside by measuring airglow spectral features of the NO gamma band. Since a significant part of the electron precipitation takes place during the night, and considering the long lifetime of NO, we have accumulated the X-ray data in geographical boxes. This enables us to follow the total energy deposition over a specific area during the night and morning hours, and we can compare this with the NO density measured by SNOE on the dayside. For the beginning of a storm time event May 2, 1998, we find a clear increase in NO at higher latitudes due to electron precipitation. For this event, at altitude of peak values of both NO density and deposited electron energy, 106 km, over 80 % of the NO density is produced by electron precipitation. Other events from the period 1998 to 2000 will also be presented.
DE: 2455 Particle precipitation
DE: 0310 Airglow and aurora
DE: 0355 Thermosphere--composition and chemistry
DE: 0358 Thermosphere--energy deposition
SC: SPA-Aeronomy [SA]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting