FastFind »   Lastname: doi:10.1029/ Year: | Advanced Search  

AGU: Journal of Geophysical Research, Space Physics

 

Keywords

  • thermosphere
  • solar cycle
  • radiative cooling

Index Terms

  • Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Thermosphere: composition and chemistry
  • Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Thermosphere: energy deposition
  • Atmospheric Processes: Radiative processes
  • Ionosphere: Solar radiation and cosmic ray effects
Abstract
Cited By (7)
 

Abstract

JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 112, A12302, 7 PP., 2007
doi:10.1029/2006JA012194

Evidence for a solar cycle influence on the infrared energy budget and radiative cooling of the thermosphere

Martin G. Mlynczak

NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia, USA

F. Javier Martin-Torres

Analytic Services & Materials, Inc., Hampton, Virginia, USA

B. Thomas Marshall

G&A Technical Software, Newport News, Virginia, USA

R. Earl Thompson

G&A Technical Software, Newport News, Virginia, USA

Joshua Williams

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Utah State University, Logan, Utah, USA

Timothy Turpin

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Utah State University, Logan, Utah, USA

David P. Kratz

NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia, USA

James M. Russell III

Center for Atmospheric Sciences, Hampton University, Hampton, Virginia, USA

Tom Woods

Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, Boulder, Colorado, USA

Larry L. Gordley

G&A Technical Software, Newport News, Virginia, USA

We present direct observational evidence for solar cycle influence on the infrared energy budget and radiative cooling of the thermosphere. By analyzing nearly five years of data from the Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) instrument, we show that the annual mean infrared power radiated by the nitric oxide (NO) molecule at 5.3 μm has decreased by a factor of 2.9. This decrease is correlated (r = 0.96) with the decrease in the annual mean F10.7 solar index. Despite the sharp decrease in radiated power (which is equivalent to a decrease in the vertical integrated radiative cooling rate), the variability of the power as given in the standard deviation of the annual means remains approximately constant. A simple relationship is shown to exist between the infrared power radiated by NO and the F10.7 index, thus providing a fundamental relationship between solar activity and the thermospheric cooling rate for use in thermospheric models. The change in NO radiated power is also consistent with changes in absorbed ultraviolet radiation over the same time period. Computations of radiated power using an empirical model show much less variability than observed by SABER.

Received 27 November 2006; accepted 28 August 2007; published 6 December 2007.

Citation: Mlynczak, M. G., F. J. Martin-Torres, B. T. Marshall, R. E. Thompson, J. Williams, T. Turpin, D. P. Kratz, J. M. Russell III, T. Woods, and L. L. Gordley (2007), Evidence for a solar cycle influence on the infrared energy budget and radiative cooling of the thermosphere, J. Geophys. Res., 112, A12302, doi:10.1029/2006JA012194.

Cited By

Please wait one moment ...