Auroral effects of precipitating electrons on the thermosphere for the March 17, 2013 storm observed by the GOCE satellite and simulated by the TIEGCM with fluxes predicted by the RCM-E

Abstract:

The “St. Patrick’s Day Storm” in March 2013 was the first large storm of the Van Allen Probes era and is one of the Challenge Events identified by GEM and CEDAR. We simulate the fluxes and thermospheric response using (1) the magnetically and electrically self-consistent Rice Convection Model – Equilibrium (RCM-E) of the inner magnetosphere, (2) the B3c transport model for electron-proton-hydrogen atom aurora in the ionosphere, and (3) the Thermosphere-Ionosphere-Electrodynamics General Circulation Model (TIEGCM) for the ionosphere and thermosphere. The RCM-E is a non-MHD model and does not resort to the use of a priori particle spectra (e.g., Maxwellian). The particle spectra predicted by the RCM-E agree well with observations. The simulated precipitating electron flux distributions are used to specify the energy flux and particle heating due to precipitating auroral electrons for TIEGCM simulations of the neutral atmosphere. We simulate the thermospheric response to the St. Patrick’s Day event and compare simulated quantities with in situ observations of thermospheric derived from the Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) satellite.