Study of Thermosphere Temperature Response to Geomagnetic Storms

Abstract:

The response to geomagnetic storm forcing in the MLT(Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere) region of the Earth's atmosphere is yet to be completely understood. The kinetic temperture measurements made by the SABER (Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry) instrument onboard the TIMED (Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics) satellite provides an unprecedented long-term dataset to advance our understanding of the MLT region. We use this dataset to understand the geomagnetic storm forcing and it's effect on the dynamics of this region.

However, in order to deduce the geomagnetic storm response from these kinetic temperature measurements, background effects like seasonal trends and tidal forcing need to be isolated. We present a technique for isolating these background effects and present the resulting geomagnetic storm response in this paper. This analysis has been carried out as a function of latitude, altitude and storm intensity for numerous storm conditions. We also present a comparison of physics and empirical models for a few select storm periods.

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