Identification

Title

Comparison of the auroral E region neutral winds derived with the European Incoherent Scatter radar and predicted by the National Center for Atmospheric Research Thermosphere-ionosphere-mesosphere-electrodynamics general circulation model

Abstract

A comparison study of the auroral E region neutral wind has been conducted using the European Incoherent Scatter (EISCAT) radar observations and Thermosphere-Ionosphere-Mesosphere-Electro dynamics general circulation model (TIME GCM) predictions. The daily mean wind data as well as diurnal and semidiurnal tidal wind data, are compared for the three seasons summer, equinox, and winter between 95 and 119 km. Fairly good agreement is found in the altitude profile of the mean zonal wind between the EISCAT observation and the TIME GCM prediction for summer, indicating the parameterization of gravity waves employed in the TIME GCM is adequate for this feature. The meridional mean wind amplitude predicted by the TIME GCM is considerably smaller than that observed by EISCAT, and the predicted wind is slightly northward for all the seasons above 100 km. Generally good agreement is found for the amplitude of the diurnal tide, especially the summer prediction, while disagreements between the model and observational results are found for the corresponding phases. The semidiurnal amplitude predicted by the TIME GCM is much smaller than that observed by EISCAT, and relatively large differences of the semidiurnal phase between the observations and predictions are found for all seasons. These comparison results suggest that further advancements in the gravity wave parameterization, as well as the addition of planetary wave effects, are needed to predict more realistic lower thermospheric winds at high latitude.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d70r9q2q

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

2001-05-15T00:00:00Z

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