Evaluation of Tides and Their Impacts on Ionosphere Electrodynamics in WACCM-X

Abstract:

Atmospheric tides affect the upper atmosphere dynamics, electrodynamics and transport. It is known that the tides in previous versions of WACCM and WACCM-X are generally weaker than climatology. It is found recently that the divergence damping, which was introduced in the finite volume dynamical core to damp out gravity waves during CAM development, is excessive and acts to damp the tides in the model. By reducing the divergence damping, all tidal components become significantly larger. In this study, we evaluate tides in the new version of NCAR Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model with thermosphere and ionosphere extension (WACCM-X) by comparing the tidal amplitudes and phases with existing observations. Furthermore, the new version of WACCM-X has now included interactive electric wind dynamo module and F region O+ transport. We will present results quantifying the tidal impacts on the ionospheric electrodynamics in WACCM-X.