Identification

Title

Alignment of high‐latitude ionospheric and thermospheric Lagrangian coherent structures

Abstract

The storm-time ionospheric-thermospheric (IT) state is of great interest, since the IT dynamics change dramatically as energy is input and dissipated in the upper atmosphere. Lagrangian coherent structures (LCSs), which are objective ridges in time-evolving flows that describe the tendency of neighboring fluid elements to separate, provides a unique opportunity to infer the dynamics in the IT system. In this work, we model IT flows with the Thermosphere-Ionosphere-Electrodynamics General Circulation Model and identify the LCSs. We compare the LCSs in the neutral winds and plasma drifts during quiet times versus during active times. We find that LCSs are largely aligned in the modeled IT flows, with a dawn-dusk asymmetry in their latitudinal position. During a geomagnetic storm, the thermospheric LCSs (T-LCSs) and ionospheric LCSs (I-LCSs) shift equatorward, align more closely with each other, and maintain a dawn-dusk asymmetry. The collocation of T-LCSs and I-LCSs and their analogous response to the geomagnetic storm provide evidence of energy input into the thermosphere and ionosphere simultaneously, and the ion drag is the dominant effect causing LCS alignment during a geomagnetic storm.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7b27zqk

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

2021-06-28T00:00:00Z

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