HR: 11:20h
AN: SA32A-04    [Abstracts]
TI: Solar Soft X-ray Production of Thermospheric Odd-Nitrogen
AU: * Solomon, S C
EM: stans@ucar.edu
AF: National Center for Atmospheric Research, High Altitude Observatory, Boulder, CO 80301 United States
AU: Qian, L
EM: lqian@ucar.edu
AF: National Center for Atmospheric Research, High Altitude Observatory, Boulder, CO 80301 United States
AU: Bailey, S M
EM: sbailey@gi.alaska.edu
AF: University of Alaska, Geophysical Institute, Fairbanks, AK 99775 United States
AB: Ionization by solar soft X-rays is a primary cause of non-auroral odd-nitrogen in the thermosphere, and the source of much of the variability of nitric oxide. Therefore, the long-standing problems of the reference level and amount of variability of solar soft X-ray irradiance are intertwined with the effort to obtain a consistent set of chemical rate coefficients that can describe thermospheric nitric oxide, and hence the thermal balance of the thermosphere through its radiation in the 5.3 micron band. Recent measurements of the solar EUV and X-ray irradiance, and of nitric oxide emissions, by the UARS, SNOE, TIMED, and SORCE satellites have yielded considerable new information that largely resolve earlier issues. These measurements are briefly reviewed, and a new method for introducing solar irradiance into thermospheric general circulation models is described. A chemical scheme for these models, the global distribution of nitric oxide and its cooling rates, and the effect on thermospheric temperature variation are presented.
DE: 0355 Thermosphere--composition and chemistry
DE: 0358 Thermosphere--energy deposition
DE: 2423 Ionization mechanisms
SC: SPA-Aeronomy [SA]
MN: 2005 Joint Assembly