Global Density Specification in the Lower Thermosphere

Abstract

Energetic inputs were derived from various satellite measurements and ground-based sensors for input into the Thermosphere General Circulation Model (TGCM) simulation of the magnetic storm occurring on March 22, 1979. The simulation was compared with thermospheric densities and winds measured from an Air Force satellite, and incoherent scatter radar measurements of thermospheric temperatures. An evaluation of the overall performance of the model and various physical processes accounting for discrepancies with data was performed. A FORTRAN program was developed to perform wave/spectral analyses of density data from the Satellite Electrostatic Triaxial Accelerometer (SETA) instrument using the maximum entropy method. The program was applied to a subset of available SETA data to illustrate typical wave characteristics for geomagnetically quiet and disturbed conditions. A climatological summary was performed of the average magnetic activity dependences of high-latitude thermospheric winds and densities below 200 km using SETA data from the March/April, 1979, period. Keywords: Density; Thermosphere; Winds; Waves; Magnetic activity.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 31, 1988
Accession Number
ADA204699

Entities

People

  • Jeffrey M. Forbes

Organizations

  • Boston University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Sensors
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Abstracts
  • Air Force
  • Air Force Operations
  • Classification
  • Convection
  • Detectors
  • High Latitudes
  • Jet Propulsion
  • Magnetic Storms
  • Measurement
  • Polar Cap
  • Regions
  • Regression Analysis
  • Security
  • Simulations
  • Statistical Analysis
  • Systems Engineering

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Computational Modeling and Simulation
  • Space/Atmospheric Physics.

Technology Areas

  • Space