HR: 14:09h
AN: SA13B-03 INVITED     [Abstracts]
TI: Challenges in Modeling the Mid-latitude Thermosphere-Ionosphere Response to Geomagnetic Storms
AU: * Fuller-Rowell, T
EM: tim.fuller-rowell@noaa.gov
AF: Space Environment Center,NOAA and CIRES, University of Colorado, 325 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80305 United States
AU: Codrescu, M
EM: mihail.codrescu@noaa.gov
AF: Space Environment Center,NOAA and CIRES, University of Colorado, 325 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80305 United States
AU: Maruyama, N
EM: naomi@ucar.edu
AF: High Altitude Observatory, NCAR, 3450 Mitchell Lane, Boulder, CO 80301 United States
AB: Modeling, predicting, and understanding the physics of the response of the mid-latitude thermosphere-ionosphere to geomagnetic storms is one of the primary goals of the LWS I-T Storm Probes. The response is complex due to the myriad of processes not only in the coupling of the ionosphere to the inner magnetosphere, but also within the upper atmosphere itself, where neutral-plasma interactions are clearly evident. Electrodynamic coupling between the inner magnetosphere and ionosphere encroach on the mid-latitudes from both sides. From the high latitude side, sub-auroral polarization electric fields transport and erode plasma, creating storm enhanced densities and expanding trough features equatorward. From the low latitudes, penetration electric fields redistribute plasma, moving the equatorial ionization anomaly peaks many degrees poleward. Injection of energy and momentum from the magnetosphere also drives wind surges and restructures the global circulation. Neutral composition changes follow, spreading equatorward often with distinct longitude dependence. Neutral wind and composition changes combine with the electrodynamic drift to enhance, deplete, and restructure the plasma, producing at times extreme longitude dependence. Although some of these effects can be modeled generically, many of the features are still elusive and have yet to be understood or modeled in a realistic way.
DE: 0355 Thermosphere--composition and chemistry
DE: 2427 Ionosphere/atmosphere interactions (0335)
DE: 2443 Midlatitude ionosphere
DE: 2447 Modeling and forecasting
DE: 2736 Magnetosphere/ionosphere interactions
SC: SPA-Aeronomy [SA]
MN: 2005 Joint Assembly