Solar cycle effects on the upper atmosphere - Implications for satellite drag

1989 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 439-444 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. L. Walterscheid
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cycle ◽  
Upper Atmosphere ◽  
Satellite Drag

scholarly journals Mars Global Ionosphere-Thermosphere Model: Solar cycle, seasonal, and diurnal variations of the Mars upper atmosphere

2015 ◽  
Vol 120 (2) ◽  
pp. 311-342 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. W. Bougher ◽  
D. Pawlowski ◽  
J. M. Bell ◽  
S. Nelli ◽  
T. McDunn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cycle ◽  
Diurnal Variations ◽  
Upper Atmosphere ◽  
Seasonal And Diurnal Variations

Solar wind interaction with the Martian upper atmosphere: Crustal field orientation, solar cycle, and seasonal variations

2015 ◽  
Vol 120 (9) ◽  
pp. 7857-7872 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chuanfei Dong ◽  
Stephen W. Bougher ◽  
Yingjuan Ma ◽  
Gabor Toth ◽  
Yuni Lee ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar Wind ◽  
Solar Cycle ◽  
Seasonal Variations ◽  
Upper Atmosphere ◽  
Solar Wind Interaction ◽  
Field Orientation ◽  
Crustal Field

scholarly journals Inferring thermospheric composition from ionogram profiles: A calibration with the TIMED spacecraft

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher J. Scott ◽  
Shannon Jones ◽  
Luke A. Barnard
Keyword(s):  
Dissociative Recombination ◽  
Temporal Variations ◽  
Molecular Ions ◽  
Upper Atmosphere ◽  
Global Network ◽  
G Factor ◽  
Satellite Drag ◽  
Important Region ◽  
Ion Production ◽  
Sensitive Function

Abstract. Measurements of thermospheric composition via ground-based instrumentation are challenging to make and so details about this important region of the upper atmosphere are currently sparse. We present a technique that deduces quantitative estimates of thermospheric composition from ionospheric data, for which there is a global network of stations. The visibility of the F1 peak in ionospheric soundings from ground-based instrumentation is a sensitive function of thermospheric composition. The ionospheric profile in the transition region between F1 and F2 peaks can be expressed by the G factor, a function of ion production rate and loss rates via ion-atom interchange reactions and dissociative recombination of molecular ions. This in turn can be expressed as the square of the ratio of ions lost via these processes. We compare estimates of the G factor obtained from ionograms recorded at Kwajalein (9° N, 167.2° E) for 25 times during which the TIMED spacecraft recorded approximately co-located measurements of the neutral thermosphere. We find a linear relationship between √G and the molecular: atomic composition ratio, with a gradient of 2.23 ± 0.17 and an offset of 1.66 ± 0.19. This relationship reveals the potential for using ground-based ionospheric measurements to infer quantitative variations in the composition of the neutral thermosphere. Such information can be used to investigate spatial and temporal variations in thermospheric composition which in turn has applications such as understanding the response of thermospheric composition to climate change and the efficacy of the upper atmosphere on satellite drag.

Titan’s Ultraviolet Airglow Variability with Solar Cycle and Saturn Local Time

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emilie Royer ◽  
Marielle Cooper ◽  
Joseph Ajello ◽  
Larry Esposito ◽  
Frank Crary
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cycle ◽  
Local Time ◽  
Solar Maximum ◽  
Incidence Angle ◽  
Upper Atmosphere ◽  
Particle Precipitation ◽  
Cassini Mission ◽  
Airglow Emissions ◽  
Airglow Intensity

<p>The Cassini spacecraft observed Titan’s upper atmosphere and its airglow emissions from 2005 to 2017. It is now established that the solar XUV radiation is the main source of dayglow, while magnetospheric particle precipitation principally acts on the nightside of the satellite. Nevertheless, one of the questions remaining unanswered after the end of the Cassini mission concerns the role and quantification of the magnetospheric particle precipitation and other minor sources such as micrometeorite precipitation and cosmic galactic ray at Titan. We report here on enhancements observed in Ultraviolet (UV) observations of Titan airglow made with the Cassini-Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph (UVIS). Enhancements are correlated with magnetospheric changing conditions occurring while the spacecraft, and thus Titan, are known to have crossed Saturn’s magnetopause and have been exposed to the magnetosheath environment. The processing and interpretation of 13+ years of airglow observations at Titan allows now for global studies of the upper atmosphere as a function of the Saturn Local Time (SLT) and the solar cycle.</p><p>Nitrogen airglow occur at about 1100 km of altitude in Titan’s upper atmosphere. Observations by the Cassini-UVIS instrument revealed the emission of the LBH band system, VK band system as well as Nitrogen atomic emission lines at 1085Å and 1493Å, as the prominent features of airglow emissions at Titan, as shown in Figures 1 and 2. Measurements were made at a wide range of solar incidence angles and Saturn Local Time (SLT), during the entire Cassini mission, allowing for the investigation of the upper atmosphere response to the magnetospheric environment and energetic particle precipitation. Additionally, observations were taken in a variety of solar condition, from solar maximum to minimum. UVIS observations of Titan around 12PM SLT (near Saturn’s magnetopause) present evidence of Titan’s upper atmosphere response to a fluctuating magnetospheric environment.</p><p><img src="https://contentmanager.copernicus.org/fileStorageProxy.php?f=gnp.9617eca672fe56938492951/sdaolpUECMynit/0202CSPE&app=m&a=0&c=975f92d7d9d43faa47cacd77ad47438f&ct=x&pn=gnp.elif" alt=""></p><p><strong>Figure 1.</strong> Airglow intensity as a function of the saturn Local Time (SLT), for observation taken close the Saturn’s magnetopause (12PM SLT, labelled ‘12h’) and observations taken around miadnight SLT (labelled ‘24h’). Dayglow spectra exhibit higher averaged airglow intensity than Nightglow spectra.</p><p>We present here comparisons of the spectral emissions from the dayglow (Solar incidence angle <110°) and nightglow (Solar incidence angle ≥110°) between a rayheight of 900-1200 km around noon (±1 h) and around midnight (±1 h) SLT, during solar minima and maxima conditions (Fig. 2). Results show an enhancement of the airglow brightness with increasing particle precipitation, especially at SLT close to noon (i.e. close to the magnetopause), during solar maximum and minimum. Correlation between the ratio of the V-K, LBH, and NI-1493Å emission peaks are also presented.</p><p><img src="https://contentmanager.copernicus.org/fileStorageProxy.php?f=gnp.2357e48772fe52168492951/sdaolpUECMynit/0202CSPE&app=m&a=0&c=2c6d843782e300fc27ec3db3de320caf&ct=x&pn=gnp.elif" alt=""></p><p><strong>Figure 2.</strong> Dayglow intensity as a function of the saturn Local Time (SLT) and solar cycle. Observations have been dispatched in four groups as a function of Titan’s orbital position within Saturn’s magnetosphere and maximum oe minimum stage of the solar cycle. Results suggest that solar maximum conditions around midgnight SLT favor the apparition of the brightest dayglow.</p><p>In the past decade, results from the Cassini-UVIS instrument greatly improved our understanding of airglow production at Titan. However, combining remote-sensing datasets, such as Cassini-UVIS data, with in-situ measurements taken by the Cassini Plasma Spectrometer (CAPS) instrument can provide us with a more rigorous assessment of the airglow contribution and correlations between data from simultaneous observations of in-situ Cassini instruments (CAPS, RPWS and MIMI) has been possible on few occasions. UVIS results present here will be put in context with results from in-situ simultaneous observations.</p><!-- COMO-HTML-CONTENT-END --> <p class="co_mto_htmlabstract-citationHeader"> <strong class="co_mto_htmlabstract-citationHeader-intro">How to cite:</strong> Royer, E., Cooper, M., Ajello, J., Esposito, L., and Crary, F.: Titan’s Ultraviolet Airglow Variability with Solar Cycle and Saturn Local Time, Europlanet Science Congress 2020, online, 21 September–9 Oct 2020, EPSC2020-415, 2020 </p>

scholarly journals Solar flares as proxy for the young Sun: satellite observed thermosphere response to an X17.2 flare of Earth's upper atmosphere

2012 ◽  
Vol 30 (8) ◽  
pp. 1129-1141 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Krauss ◽  
B. Fichtinger ◽  
H. Lammer ◽  
W. Hausleitner ◽  
Yu. N. Kulikov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar Flares ◽  
Radiation Flux ◽  
Extreme Ultraviolet ◽  
Upper Atmosphere ◽  
Radiation Environment ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Satellite Drag ◽  
Grace Satellites ◽  
Early Phases ◽  
Activity Indices

Abstract. We analyzed the measured thermospheric response of an extreme solar X17.2 flare that irradiated the Earth's upper atmosphere during the so-called Halloween events in late October/early November 2003. We suggest that such events can serve as proxies for the intense electromagnetic and corpuscular radiation environment of the Sun or other stars during their early phases of evolution. We applied and compared empirical thermosphere models with satellite drag measurements from the GRACE satellites and found that the Jacchia-Bowman 2008 model can reproduce the drag measurements very well during undisturbed solar conditions but gets worse during extreme solar events. By analyzing the peak of the X17.2 flare spectra and comparing it with spectra of young solar proxies, our results indicate that the peak flare radiation flux corresponds to a hypothetical Sun-like star or the Sun at the age of approximately 2.3 Gyr. This implies that the peak extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation is enhanced by a factor of about 2.5 times compared to today's Sun. On the assumption that the Sun emitted an EUV flux of that magnitude and by modifying the activity indices in the Jacchia-Bowman 2008 model, we obtain an average exobase temperature of 1950 K, which corresponds with previous theoretical studies related to thermospheric heating and expansion caused by the solar EUV flux.

Estimation of secular density variations in the upper atmosphere from 1964–2007 satellite drag data

2011 ◽  
Vol 45 (5) ◽  
pp. 420-432
Author(s):  
I. I. Volkov ◽  
A. I. Semenov ◽  
V. V. Suevalov
Keyword(s):  
Upper Atmosphere ◽  
Satellite Drag

scholarly journals The Thermosphere Responds to a Weaker Than Normal Solar Cycle

Eos ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron Sidder
Keyword(s):  
Nitric Oxide ◽  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Solar Cycle ◽  
Solar Radiation ◽  
Upper Atmosphere ◽  
Incoming Solar Radiation ◽  
Infrared Emissions

Infrared emissions from nitric oxide and carbon dioxide in Earth’s upper atmosphere, which are closely tied to incoming solar radiation, are drastically lower than in the previous solar cycle.

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