Connotea
CiteULike
del.ico.us
BibSonomyAbstract
Energy transport in the thermosphere during the solar storms of April 2002
Science Directorate, NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia, USA
AS & M Inc., Hampton, Virginia, USA
Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas, USA
Science Directorate, NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia, USA
Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia, Granada, Spain
National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, USA
Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia, Granada, Spain
Hampton University, Hampton, Virginia, USA
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Science Directorate, NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia, USA
Air Force Research Laboratory, Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts, USA
G & A Technical Software, Newport News, Virginia, USA
Air Force Research Laboratory, Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts, USA
Air Force Research Laboratory, Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts, USA
Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Maryland, USA
The dramatic solar storm events of April 2002 deposited a large amount of energy into the Earth's upper atmosphere, substantially altering the thermal structure, the chemical composition, the dynamics, and the radiative environment. We examine the flow of energy within the thermosphere during this storm period from the perspective of infrared radiation transport and heat conduction. Observations from the SABER instrument on the TIMED satellite are coupled with computations based on the ASPEN thermospheric general circulation model to assess the energy flow. The dominant radiative response is associated with dramatically enhanced infrared emission from nitric oxide at 5.3 μm from which a total of ∼7.7 × 1023 ergs of energy are radiated during the storm. Energy loss rates due to NO emission exceed 2200 Kelvin per day. In contrast, energy loss from carbon dioxide emission at 15 μm is only ∼2.3% that of nitric oxide. Atomic oxygen emission at 63 μm is essentially constant during the storm. Energy loss from molecular heat conduction may be as large as 3.8% of the NO emission. These results confirm the “natural thermostat” effect of nitric oxide emission as the primary mechanism by which storm energy is lost from the thermosphere below 210 km.
Received 17 March 2005; accepted 13 September 2005; published 15 December 2005.
Citation: (2005), Energy transport in the thermosphere during the solar storms of April 2002, J. Geophys. Res., 110, A12S25, doi:10.1029/2005JA011141.
Cited By