Abstract
It is well-known that low-latitude ionospheric/thermospheric disturbances are sometimes generated in association with the passage of traveling ionospheric/atmospheric disturbances (TIDs/TADs) produced in the high-latitude region and that the low-latitude ionosphere/thermosphere should be strongly coupled with the lower atmosphere. These facts suggest that the appearance of thermospheric disturbances with complex structures in the low-latitude region are the result of a superposition of disturbances which have different origins. We have investigated the lower atmospheric effects on the morphology of the thermospheric disturbances in response to changes in the geomagnetic activity by using a whole atmosphere general circulation model (GCM). In order to suppress the lower atmospheric effects, we set the global mean temperature and zero-wind below about 80-km altitude in the GCM. The simulation results show that the lower atmospheric effects can produce latitudinal and longitudinal structures in the low-latitude thermosphere. These lower atmospheric effects also modulate the amplitudes and structures of TADs propagating from the high- to low-latitude regions. Our results suggest that the lower atmospheric effects can produce variability in the TIDs/TADs, which in turn would create conditions conducive to plasma instabilities in the low-latitude ionosphere.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aruliah, A. L. and E. Griffin, Evidence of meso-scale structure in the high-latitude thermosphere, Ann. Geophys., 19, 37–46, 2001.
Balan, N., S. Kawamura, T. Nakamura, M. Yamamoto, S. Fukao, W. L. Oliver, M. E. Hagan, A. D. Aylward, and H. Alleyne, Simultaneous mesosphere-lower thermosphere and thermospheric F region observations using middle and upper atmosphere radar, J. Geophys. Res., 111, A10S17, doi:10.1029/2005JA011487, 2006.
Balthazor, R. L. and R. J. Moffett, Morphology of large-scale traveling atmospheric disturbances in the polar thermosphere, J. Geophys. Res., 104, 15–24, 1999.
Bruinsma, S. and J. M. Forbes, Global observation of traveling atmospheric disturbances (TADs) in the thermosphere, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L14103, doi:10.1029/2007GL030243, 2007.
Bruinsma, S., J. M. Forbes, R. S. Nerem, and X. Zhang, Thermosphere density response to the 20–21 November 2003 solar and geomagnetic storm from CHAMP and GRACE accelerometer data, J. Geophys. Res., 111, A06303, doi:10.1029/2005JA011284, 2006.
Chiu, Y. T., An improved phenomenological model of ionospheric density, J. Atmos. Terr. Phys., 37, 1563–1570, 1975.
Colerico, M., M. Mendillo, D. Nottingham, J. Baumgardner, J. Meriwether, J. Mirick, B. W. Reinisch, J. L. Scali, C. G. Fesen, and M. A. Biondi, Coordinated measurements of F region dynamics related to the thermospheric midnight temperature maximum, J. Geophys. Res., 101, 26,783–26,793, 1996.
Fujiwara, H. and Y. Miyoshi, Characteristics of the large-scale traveling atmospheric disturbances during geomagnetically quiet and disturbed periods simulated by a whole atmosphere general circulation model, Geophys. Res. Lett., 33, L20108, doi:10.1029/2006GL027103, 2006.
Fujiwara, H., S. Maeda, H. Fukunishi, T. J. Fuller-Rowell, and D. S. Evans, Global variations of thermospheric winds and temperatures caused by substorm energy injection, J. Geophys. Res., 101, 225–239, 1996.
Fukao, S., Recent advances in atmospheric radar study, J. Meteor. Soc. Jpn., 85B, 215–239, 2007.
Fuller-Rowell, T. J. and D. S. Evans, Height-integrated Pedersen and Hall conductivity patterns inferred from the TIROS-NOAA satellite data, J. Geophys. Res., 92, 7606–7618, 1987.
Immel, T. J., E. Sagawa, S. L. England, S. B. Henderson, M. E. Hagan, S. B. Mende, H. U. Frey, C. M. Swenson, and L. J. Paxton, Control of equatorial ionospheric morphology by atmospheric tides, Geophys. Res. Lett., 33, L15108, doi:10.1029/2006GL02616, 2006.
Lühr, H., K. Häusler, and C. Stolle, Longitudinal variation of F region electron density and thermospheric zonal wind caused by atmospheric tides, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L16102, doi:10.1029/2007GL030639, 2007.
Mendillo, M., H. Rishbeth, R. G. Roble, and J. Wroten, Modelling F2-layer seasonal trends and day-to-day variability driven by coupling with the lower atmosphere, J. Atmos. Sol.-Terr. Phys., 64, 1911–1931, 2002.
Millward, G. H., R. J. Moffett, and S. Quegan, Effects of an atmospheric gravity wave on the midlatitude ionospheric F layer, J. Geophys. Res., 98, 19,173–19,179, 1993.
Miyahara, S., Y. Yoshida, and Y. Miyoshi, Dynamic coupling between the lower and upper atmosphere by tides and gravity waves, J. Atmos. Terr. Phys., 55, 1039–1053, 1993.
Miyoshi, Y., Numerical simulation of the 5-day and 16-day waves in the mesopause region, Earth Planets Space, 51, 763–772, 1999.
Miyoshi, Y. and H. Fujiwara, Day-to-day variations of migrating diurnal tide simulated by a GCM from the ground surface to the exobase, Geophys. Res. Lett., 30, 1789, doi:10.1029/2003GL017695, 2003.
Miyoshi, Y. and H. Fujiwara, Excitation mechanism of intraseasonal oscillation in the equatorial mesosphere and lower thermosphere, J. Geophys. Res., 111, D14108, doi:10.1029/2005JD006993, 2006.
Miyoshi, Y. and H. Fujiwara, Gravity waves in the thermosphere simulated by a general circulation model, J. Geophys. Res., 113, doi:10. 1029/2007JD008874, 2008.
Miyoshi, Y. and H. Fujiwara, Gravity waves in the equatorial thermosphere and their relation to lower atmospheric variability, Earth Planets Space, 61, this issue, 471–478, 2009.
Nicolls, M. J. and M. C. Kelley, Strong evidence for gravity wave seeding of an ionospheric plasma instability, Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, L05108, doi:10.1029/2004GL020737, 2005.
Ogawa, T., Y. Otsuka, K. Shiokawa, A. Saito, and M. Nishioka, Ionospheric disturbances over Indonesia and their possible association with atmospheric gravity waves from the troposphere, J. Meteor. Soc. Jpn., CPEA Special Issue, 84A, 327–342, 2006.
Roble, R. G. and E. C. Ridley, An auroral model for the NCAR thermospheric general circulation model (TGCM), Ann. Geophys., 54, 369–382, 1987.
Strickland, D. J., J. D. Craven, and R. E. Daniell, Jr., Six days thermospheric- ionospheric weather over the Northern Hemisphere in late September 1981, J. Geophys. Res., 106, 30,291–30,306
Takahashi, H., L. M. Lima, C. M. Wrasse, M. A. Abdu, I. S. Batista, D. Gobbi, R. A. Buriti, and P. P. Batista, Evidence on 2–4 day oscillations of the equatorial ionosphere h′F and mesospheric airglow emissions, Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, L12102, doi:10.1029/2004GL022318, 2005.
Volland, H., Models of the global electric fields within the magnetosphere, Ann. Geophys., 31, 159–173, 1975.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made.
The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.
To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
About this article
Cite this article
Fujiwara, H., Miyoshi, Y. Global distribution of the thermospheric disturbances produced by effects from the upper and lower regions: simulations by a whole atmosphere GCM. Earth Planet Sp 61, 463–470 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03353163
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03353163