Identification

Title

Joule heating and nitric oxide in the thermosphere

Abstract

The effect of Joule heating on the density of nitric oxide in the thermosphere was studied using observations from the Student Nitric Oxide Explorer (SNOE) satellite and model calculations from the Thermospheric Ionosphere Electrodynamics General Circulation Model for a Joule heating event that occurred on 25 September 1998. Model results and SNOE observations from fifteen orbits were compared in the latitude range 82°S to 82°N over the altitude range 100-150 km. Joule heating which occurred in the 55°- to 60°-latitude region produced a meridional wind blowing equatorward and a gravity wave propagating equatorward, which caused an increase in the temperature of the thermosphere in the 20°- to 75°-latitude region. When the heated thermosphere was illuminated by solar radiation, the density of nitric oxide increased over this entire latitude region because of a temperature-sensitive reaction between ground state nitrogen atoms and molecular oxygen. In the 24 hours following the Joule heating event, the increased nitric oxide diffused downward from the 150-km region to the 110-km level of the thermosphere.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7dv1kx0

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2009-05-07T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact