Ionosphere-Thermosphere Coupling - Data Analysis and Numerical Simulation Study

Abstract

The well-known Fang parameterizations of monoenergetic particle impact ionization have been applied to the complex energy spectra measured by the DMSP F16 satellite to calculate the ionization rates from electron and ion precipitations for a northern hemisphere pass from 0030 UT to 0106 UT on August 6, 2011. The particle impact ionization rates using the Fang parameterizations showed a clear enhancement at F-region altitudes in the polar cap region mainly due to the low-energy precipitating electrons. The general circulation models (GCMs), the NCAR Thermosphere-Ionosphere-Electrodynamics General Circulation Model (TIE-GCM) and the Global Ionosphere Thermosphere Model (GITM) do not capture the observed features shown in the total particle ionization rate when applying the Fang parameterizations to DMSP measurements. The difference between the GCM simulations and those obtained by the Fang models, applied to DMSP data, is due to the difference of both the inputs to the models and the parameterization of the ionization rates.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 12, 2013
Accession Number
ADA599154

Entities

People

  • Christos G. Christodoulou

Organizations

  • University of New Mexico

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force Research Laboratories
  • Altitude
  • Artificial Satellites
  • Data Analysis
  • Electron Flux
  • Electrons
  • High Latitudes
  • Ionosphere
  • Low Earth Orbits
  • Magnetic Fields
  • Measurement
  • Meteorological Satellites
  • Military Research
  • Northern Hemisphere
  • Particles
  • Polar Cap
  • Spacecraft

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Ocean-Atmosphere Mesoscale Modeling, Data Assimilation, and Flux Boundary Layers
  • Space/Atmospheric Physics.

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics
  • Space