Bibliography

A Comparative Study of Ionospheric Day-To-Day Variability Over Wuhan Based on Ionosonde Measurements and Model Simulations

Ionospheric day-to-day variability is essential for understanding the space environment, while it is still challenging to properly quantify and forecast. In the present work, the day-to-day variability of F2 layer peak electron densities (NmF2) is examined from both observational and modeling perspectives. Ionosonde data over Wuhan station (30.5°N, 114.5°E; 19.3°N magnetic latitude) are compared with simulations from the specific dynamics Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model with thermosphere and ionosphere eXtension (SD-WACCM-X) and the Thermosphere-Ionosphere-Electrodynamics General Circulation Model (TIEGCM) in 2009 and 2012. Both SD-WACCM-X and TIEGCM are driven by the realistic 3 h geomagnetic index and daily solar input, and the former includes self-consistently solved physics and chemistry in the lower atmosphere. The correlation coefficient between observations and SD-WACCM-X simulations is much larger than that of the TIEGCM simulations, especially during dusk in 2009 and nighttime in 2012. Both the observed and SD-WACCM-X simulated day-to-day variability of NmF2 reveal a similar day-night dependence in 2012 that increases large during the nighttime and decreases during the daytime, and shows favorable consistency of daytime variability in 2009. Both the observations and SD-WACCM-X simulations also display semiannual variations in nighttime NmF2 variability, although the month with maximum variability is slightly different. However, TIEGCM does not reproduce the day-night dependence or the semiannual variations well. The results emphasize the necessity for realistic lower atmospheric perturbations to characterize ionospheric day-to-day variability. This work also provides a validation of the SD-WACCM-X in terms of ionospheric day-to-day variability.

Zhou, Xu; Yue, Xinan; Liu, Han-Li; Lu, Xian; Wu, Haonan; Zhao, Xiukuan; He, Jianhui;

Published by: Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics      Published on:

YEAR: 2021     DOI: 10.1029/2020JA028589

Ionosphere; day-to-day variability; ionosonde; NmF2; TIEGCM; WACCM-X

The Response of Middle Thermosphere (∼160 km) Composition to the November 20 and 21, 2003 Superstorm

TIMED/GUVI limb measurements and first-principles simulations from the Thermosphere Ionosphere Electrodynamics Global Circulation Model (TIEGCM) are used to investigate thermospheric atomic oxygen (O) and molecular nitrogen (N2) responses in the middle thermosphere on a constant pressure surface (∼160 km) to the November 20 and 21, 2003 superstorm. The consistency between GUVI observations and TIEGCM simulated composition changes allows us to utilize TIEGCM outputs to investigate the storm-time behaviors of O and N2 systematically. Diagnostic analysis shows that horizontal and vertical advection are the two main processes that determine the storm-induced perturbations in the middle thermosphere. Molecular diffusion has a relatively smaller magnitude than the two advection processes, acting to compensate for the changes caused by the transport partly. Contributions from chemistry and eddy diffusion are negligible. During the storm initial and main phases, composition variations at high latitudes are determined by both horizontal and vertical advection. At middle-low latitudes, horizontal advection is the main driver for the composition changes where O mass mixing ratio decreases (N2 mass mixing ratio increases); whereas horizontal and vertical advection combined to dominate the changes in the regions where increases ( decreases). Over the entire storm period, horizontal advection plays a significant role in transporting high-latitude composition perturbations globally. Our results also demonstrate that storm-time temperature changes are not the direct cause of the composition perturbations on constant pressure surfaces.

Yu, Tingting; Wang, Wenbin; Ren, Zhipeng; Cai, Xuguang; Yue, Xinan; He, Maosheng;

Published by: Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics      Published on:

YEAR: 2021     DOI: 10.1029/2021JA029449

atomic oxygen; GUVI limb observations; middle thermosphere; molecular nitrogen; storm-time perturbations; TIEGCM

Geomagnetic control of equatorial plasma bubble activity modeled by the TIEGCM with Kp

Describing the day-to-day variability of Equatorial Plasma Bubble (EPB) occurrence remains a significant challenge. In this study we use the Thermosphere-Ionosphere Electrodynamics General Circulation Model (TIEGCM), driven by solar (F_10.7) and geomagnetic (Kp) activity indices, to study daily variations of the linear Rayleigh-Taylor (R-T) instability growth rate in relation to the measured scintillation strength at five longitudinally distributed stations. For locations characterized by generally favorable conditions for EPB growth (i.e., within the scintillation season for that location), we find that the TIEGCM is capable of identifying days when EPB development, determined from the calculated R-T growth rate, is suppressed as a result of geomagnetic activity. Both observed and modeled upward plasma drifts indicate that the prereversal enhancement scales linearly with Kp from several hours prior, from which it is concluded that even small Kpchanges cause significant variations in daily EPB growth.

Carter, B.; Retterer, J.; Yizengaw, E.; Groves, K.; Caton, R.; McNamara, L.; Bridgwood, C.; Francis, M.; Terkildsen, M.; Norman, R.; Zhang, K.;

Published by: Geophysical Research Letters      Published on: 08/2014

YEAR: 2014     DOI: 10.1002/2014GL060953

Equatorial ionosphere; plasma bubbles; TIEGCM

GNSS radio occultation (RO) derived electron density quality in high latitude and polar region: NCAR-TIEGCM simulation and real data evaluation

Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) based radio occultation (RO) technique has shown powerful ability in ionospheric electron density profiling in the past decade. The most frequently used Abel inversion method in electron density retrieval has some biases because of the used spherical symmetry assumption. Our previous series simulations and evaluations mainly concentrated in the middle and low latitude regions have shown some systematical bias especially in lower altitude of low latitude region. However, the RO derived electron density quality in the high latitude and polar region is rarely investigated and not quantitatively clear yet. In this study, the Abel inversion error over high latitude and polar regions are systematically investigated for the first time based on NCAR-TIEGCM simulations and real data evaluations. The TIMED data driven NCAR-TIEGCM modeled electron density during 2008 are used to simulate the COSMIC RO events. The Abel inversion error can then be estimated by comparing Abel retrievals from TIEGCM simulated occultation with the original TIEGCM simulations. The Abel inversion can reproduce the season, altitude, latitude, and local time variation patterns of electron density and auroral zone electron density nighttime enhancement well in high latitude and polar region. The Abel inversion tends to underestimate the electron density in the auroral zone and overestimate it on both the equatorward and poleward sides of the auroral zone. As simulated by the TIEGCM model, the significant relative error (\>25\%) mainly occurs in lower altitude (\<250\ km) inside and around auroral zone region. Above 250\ km, the relative error mostly is less than 25\%. Specifically, RMSE (root mean square error) of NmF2 error from simulation is \~8.5\%. The Abel error under real ionosphere situation would be worse because the ionosphere could be more complicated and noisier than the model simulation. The error distribution and its seasonal, local time and latitude variations can be explained by the spherical symmetry assumption used in the Abel inversion associated with the corresponding ionospheric electron density variations. The comparisons between PFISR and COSMIC RO electron density during 2007\textendash2011 and some previous validation studies agree well with our simulation results. We hope these results can stimulate more studies in high latitude ionospheric research using RO data.

Yue, Xinan; Schreiner, William; Kuo, Ying-Hwa; Wu, Qian; Deng, Yue; Wang, Wenbin;

Published by: Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics      Published on: 06/2013

YEAR: 2013     DOI: 10.1016/j.jastp.2013.03.009

Abel inversion; AURORA; COSMIC; Electron density; GNSS radio occultation; TIEGCM

Thermospheric tidal effects on the ionospheric midlatitude summer nighttime anomaly using SAMI3 and TIEGCM

This paper is the first study to employ a three-dimensional physics-based ionosphere model, SAMI3, coupled with the National Center for Atmospheric Research Thermosphere Ionosphere Electrodynamics General Circulation Model (TIEGCM) and Global Scale Wave Model to simulate the mesospheric and lower thermospheric tidal effects on the development of midlatitude summer nighttime anomaly (MSNA). Using this coupled model, the diurnal variation of MSNA electron densities at 300 km altitude is simulated on both June solstice (day of year (DOY) 167) and December solstice (DOY 350) in 2007. Results show successful reproduction of the southern hemisphere MSNA structure including the eastward drift feature of the southern MSNA, which is not reproduced by the default SAMI3 runs using the neutral winds provided by the empirical Horizontal Wind Model 93 neutral wind model. A linear least squares algorithm for extracting tidal components is utilized to examine the major tidal component affecting the variation of southern MSNA. Results show that the standing diurnal oscillation component dominates the vertical neutral wind manifesting as a diurnal eastward wave-1 drift of the southern MSNA in the local time frame. We also find that the stationary planetary wave-1 component of vertical neutral wind can cause diurnal variation of the summer nighttime electron density enhancement around the midlatitude ionosphere.

Chen, C.; Lin, C.; Chang, L.; Huba, J.; Lin, J.; Saito, A.; Liu, J;

Published by: Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics      Published on: 06/2013

YEAR: 2013     DOI: 10.1002/jgra.50340

MSNA; SAMI3; tidal effect; TIEGCM