Occurrence of Neutral Density Enhancement at High Latitudes

Physics

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0355 Thermosphere: Composition And Chemistry, 0358 Thermosphere: Energy Deposition (3369), 3369 Thermospheric Dynamics (0358)

Scientific paper

The occurrence distribution of large thermospheric neutral density peaks was examined using CHAMP accelerometer data during the four and a half year period from mid-2001 through 2005. Peaks of the total mass density were generally detected around the dayside cusp, suggesting the persistent presence of a density enhancement cell structure in this region. The locations of dayside density peaks tend to move to lower magnetic latitudes with increasing magnetic activity. Surprisingly many density peaks were detected inside the polar cap with > 80 ° magnetic latitudes during periods of moderate geomagnetic activity. To help understand the CHAMP observations, global circulation modeling was conducted using NCAR's Thermosphere Ionosphere Electrodynamics Global Circulation Model (TIEGCM) with input parameters of solar wind plasma and magnetic field measured by ACE satellite. TIEGCM modeling shows enhancement of neutral density in a broad region near the polar cusp where the convective electric field is large. However there is no indication of density enhancement in the polar cap region away from the dayside cusp from the TIEGCM modeling. We speculate that the neutral density peaks observed by CHAMP at > 80 ° magnetic latitudes manifest the deposition of Poynting fluxes and energetic electron precipitation in a small localized region in the polar cap. The physical processes responsible for the localized energy deposition remain to be investigated.

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