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Determine the time constants and coupling strength of ion-neutral momentum transfer in the high-latitude thermosphere across solar maximum and minimum, evaluating standard general circulation model parameterizations.

March 1, 1988Physica ScriptaOpen Access

Ionosphere-thermosphere momentum coupling at solar maximum and solar minimum from DE-2 and AE-C data

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Determine the time constants and coupling strength of ion-neutral momentum transfer in the high-latitude thermosphere across solar maximum and minimum, evaluating standard general circulation model parameterizations.
Analyzed in situ plasma and neutral density observations from the DE-2 satellite at solar maximum and the AE-C satellite at solar minimum across the 250–350 km altitude range.
Calculated, averaged, and binned momentum transfer e-folding time constants according to geomagnetic latitude and local time.
Compared observational coupling time constants against values derived from the Chiu (1975) ion density and MSIS-83 neutral composition semi-empirical models.
Thermospheric neutrals respond rapidly to ion drag during solar maximum with momentum transfer e-folding time constants between 1 and 3 hours.
Solar minimum coupling time constants are roughly an order of magnitude larger than at solar maximum, showing that neutrals are largely decoupled from ion drag and winds are primarily driven by day-to-night pressure gradients.
Semi-empirical models match observations reasonably well during solar maximum but significantly underestimate time constants at solar minimum because the Chiu model overestimates polar ionospheric densities.

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Implication

Observational satellite analysis reveals weaker ion-neutral momentum coupling during solar minimum in the high-latitude thermosphere, indicating that circulation models overestimate polar ion drag.

Cite This Study

Ponthieu et al. (1988) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a8413fee22b852b8ec5222b https://doi.org/10.1088/0031-8949/37/3/028

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Implication

Observational satellite analysis reveals weaker ion-neutral momentum coupling during solar minimum in the high-latitude thermosphere, indicating that circulation models overestimate polar ion drag.

Ionosphere-thermosphere momentum coupling at solar maximum and solar minimum from DE-2 and AE-C data

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Discussion

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Cite This Study

Ionosphere-thermosphere momentum coupling at solar maximum and solar minimum from DE-2 and AE-C data

Key Points

Discussion

Implication

Cite This Study

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