Seasonal Variation Analysis of Thermospheric Composition in TIMED/GUVI Limb Measurements

Knowledge of thermospheric variability is essential to the understanding and forecasting of ionospheric behavior and space weather. As well, thermospheric density variability is a vital ingredient for prediction of space objects orbital changes and the lifetime of spacecraft. The Global UltraViolet Imager (GUVI) onboard the Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED) satellite provides the first global dataset of thermosphere composition (O, N2 and O2 densities) and temperature vertical profiles from 2002-2007.