SA44A-02
Thermospheric Wind Response to Geomagnetic Activity: Observations of the Doppler Shift of 630.0-nm Airglow
Thursday, 17 December 2015: 16:15
2016 (Moscone West)
Brian Joseph Harding, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, Urbana, IL, United States, Jonathan J Makela, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, United States, John W Meriwether, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, United States, Aaron J Ridley, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, AOSS, Ann Arbor, MI, United States and NATION Team
Abstract:
The 630.0-nm red airglow emission, nominally occurring at 250km altitude, has provided much of the observational evidence for the response of the thermospheric wind and temperature to geomagnetic activity. Fabry-Perot interferometers (FPIs) are used to monitor the Doppler shift and breadth of this emission, which is assumed to represent the thermospheric wind and temperature, respectively. In this talk, we describe observations made by the North American Thermosphere Ionosphere Observation Network (NATION), a network of FPIs at midlatitudes which has been operating since 2012. In particular, we describe observations of the red line Doppler shift during geomagnetic storms, focusing on two phenomena: apparent vertical winds seen during the main phase of geomagnetic storms, and poleward wind surges seen during the beginning of the recovery phase. We also discuss the conditions under which the Doppler shift of the red line emission is indicative of the thermospheric wind.
