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Coupling of the Localized Wind Wall at High Latitudes to the Lower Thermosphere by Neutral Cells

Received: 22 October 2020    Accepted: 7 November 2020    Published: 19 November 2020
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Abstract

The recently observed Wall in the daytime zonal winds in the thermosphere from O (1S) and O (1D) emissions by the WINDII instrument on the UARS satellite in the high latitudinal region during 1994 to 1996, has been interpreted in terms of NCAR-TIGCM models. The strong westward polar wind (convergence) and weaker eastward winds equator wards of it (divergence), potentially generating localized vertical flows, overlap the dayside high density and equatorward of it low density neutral Cells’ regions in the models. The models indicate that the Cells and the Wall separating them exist at all solar and geomagnetic activities. These Cells in the thermosphere can transport neutral gas vertically down in the convergence region and up in the divergence region thus moving the associated emissions as observed in the data. Since the diameter of these Cells can reach up to 2000 km, the resulting enhanced emissions may have scale size of about 20° in latitude and longitude. The idealized transport time is under 8 minutes for up to 100 km for these observations during quiet solar and geomagnetic conditions. Once the transporting Cell’s temperature / density reaches that of the ambient atmosphere they disappear and other Cells will partake in this process at these latitudes and times.

Published in International Journal of Astrophysics and Space Science (Volume 8, Issue 3)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijass.20200803.12
Page(s) 27-31
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Ionosphere, Thermosphere, Neutral density Cells, Atomic oxygen emissions, Windii-UARS

References
[1] Caspers, T and G. W. Prolss, Thermospheric density cells at high latitudes, Adv. Space Res., 24, 1433, 1999.
[2] Clemmons, J. H, J. H. Hecht, D. R. Salem and D. J. Strickland, Thermospheric densities n the earth’s magnetic cuspas observed by the Streak mission, Geo. Res. Letters, 35, L24103, 2008.
[3] Crowley, G, J. Schoendorf, R. Roble and F. A. Marcos, Cellular structures in the high-latitude thermosphere, J. Geophys. Res., 101, 211, 1996.
[4] Huang, H. Luhr, H. Wang and C. Xiong, The relationship of high latitude thermospheric wind with ionospheric horizontal current as observed by CHAMP satellite, J. Geophys. Res., 122, 12378, 2017.
[5] Kervalishvili, G. N and H. Luhr, Climatology of zonal wind and large scale FAC with respect to the density anomaly in the cusp region: seasonal, solar cycle and IMF-By dependence, Ann. Geophys., 32, 249, 2014.
[6] Liu, H, H. Luhr, V. Henize and W. Kohler, Global distribution of thermospheric total mass density derived from CHAMP, J. Geophys. Res (Space Physics), 110, A04301, 2005.
[7] Luhr, H, M. Rother, W. Kohler, P. Ritter and P. Grunwaldt, Thermospheric up welling in the cusp region: evidence from CHAMP observations, Geo. Res. Letters., 31, L06805, 2004.
[8] Marcos, F. A and E. R. Swift, Application of the satellite triaxial accelerometer experiment to atmospheric and wind studies, AFGL Tech. Report, TR-82-0091, I 51, 1982.
[9] Roemer, M, Recent observational results of the thermosphere and exosphere, Part 4: CIRA (Cospar International Reference Atmosphere), Akademie Verlag, 1972.
[10] Sadler, F. B, M. Lessard, E. Lund, A. Otto and H. Luhr, Auroral precipitation / ion upwelling as a driver of neutral density enhancement in the cusp, J. Atm. Solar Terr. Physics, 87, 82, 2012.
[11] Schoendorf, J, G. Crowley, R. G. Roble and F. A. Marcos, Neutral density cells in the high latitude thermosphere-1: Solar maximum cell morphology and data analysis, J. Atm. Terr. Physics, 58, 1751, 1996-1.
[12] Schoendorf, J, G. Crowley and R. G. Roble, Neutral density cells in the high latitude thermosphere-2, J. Atm. Terr. Physics, 58, 1769, 1996-2.
[13] Shepherd, G. G and M. G. Shepherd, High latitude observations of a localized wind wall and its coupling to the lower thermosphere, Geo. Res. Letters, 45, 4586, 2018.
[14] Shepherd, M, G. Shepherd and M. Codresu, Perturbations of O(1D) VER, Temperature, Atomic oxygen and TEC at high Southern latitudes, J. Geophys. Res (Space Physics), 10.1029, A026480, 2019.
[15] Su, Y. J, R. G. Caton, J. L. Horwitz, P. G. Richards, Systematic modeling of soft electron precipitation effects on high latitude F-region and topside ionospheric up flows, J. Geophys. Res., 104, 153, 1999.
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  • APA Style

    Vin Bhatnagar. (2020). Coupling of the Localized Wind Wall at High Latitudes to the Lower Thermosphere by Neutral Cells. International Journal of Astrophysics and Space Science, 8(3), 27-31. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijass.20200803.12

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    ACS Style

    Vin Bhatnagar. Coupling of the Localized Wind Wall at High Latitudes to the Lower Thermosphere by Neutral Cells. Int. J. Astrophys. Space Sci. 2020, 8(3), 27-31. doi: 10.11648/j.ijass.20200803.12

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    AMA Style

    Vin Bhatnagar. Coupling of the Localized Wind Wall at High Latitudes to the Lower Thermosphere by Neutral Cells. Int J Astrophys Space Sci. 2020;8(3):27-31. doi: 10.11648/j.ijass.20200803.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijass.20200803.12,
      author = {Vin Bhatnagar},
      title = {Coupling of the Localized Wind Wall at High Latitudes to the Lower Thermosphere by Neutral Cells},
      journal = {International Journal of Astrophysics and Space Science},
      volume = {8},
      number = {3},
      pages = {27-31},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijass.20200803.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijass.20200803.12},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijass.20200803.12},
      abstract = {The recently observed Wall in the daytime zonal winds in the thermosphere from O (1S) and O (1D) emissions by the WINDII instrument on the UARS satellite in the high latitudinal region during 1994 to 1996, has been interpreted in terms of NCAR-TIGCM models. The strong westward polar wind (convergence) and weaker eastward winds equator wards of it (divergence), potentially generating localized vertical flows, overlap the dayside high density and equatorward of it low density neutral Cells’ regions in the models. The models indicate that the Cells and the Wall separating them exist at all solar and geomagnetic activities. These Cells in the thermosphere can transport neutral gas vertically down in the convergence region and up in the divergence region thus moving the associated emissions as observed in the data. Since the diameter of these Cells can reach up to 2000 km, the resulting enhanced emissions may have scale size of about 20° in latitude and longitude. The idealized transport time is under 8 minutes for up to 100 km for these observations during quiet solar and geomagnetic conditions. Once the transporting Cell’s temperature / density reaches that of the ambient atmosphere they disappear and other Cells will partake in this process at these latitudes and times.},
     year = {2020}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Coupling of the Localized Wind Wall at High Latitudes to the Lower Thermosphere by Neutral Cells
    AU  - Vin Bhatnagar
    Y1  - 2020/11/19
    PY  - 2020
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijass.20200803.12
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ijass.20200803.12
    T2  - International Journal of Astrophysics and Space Science
    JF  - International Journal of Astrophysics and Space Science
    JO  - International Journal of Astrophysics and Space Science
    SP  - 27
    EP  - 31
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2376-7022
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijass.20200803.12
    AB  - The recently observed Wall in the daytime zonal winds in the thermosphere from O (1S) and O (1D) emissions by the WINDII instrument on the UARS satellite in the high latitudinal region during 1994 to 1996, has been interpreted in terms of NCAR-TIGCM models. The strong westward polar wind (convergence) and weaker eastward winds equator wards of it (divergence), potentially generating localized vertical flows, overlap the dayside high density and equatorward of it low density neutral Cells’ regions in the models. The models indicate that the Cells and the Wall separating them exist at all solar and geomagnetic activities. These Cells in the thermosphere can transport neutral gas vertically down in the convergence region and up in the divergence region thus moving the associated emissions as observed in the data. Since the diameter of these Cells can reach up to 2000 km, the resulting enhanced emissions may have scale size of about 20° in latitude and longitude. The idealized transport time is under 8 minutes for up to 100 km for these observations during quiet solar and geomagnetic conditions. Once the transporting Cell’s temperature / density reaches that of the ambient atmosphere they disappear and other Cells will partake in this process at these latitudes and times.
    VL  - 8
    IS  - 3
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Center for Research in Earth and Space Science, Physics department, York University, Toronto, Canada

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