Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2006
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006agufmsa11a..05p&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2006, abstract #SA11A-05
Physics
0310 Airglow And Aurora, 0355 Thermosphere: Composition And Chemistry, 0358 Thermosphere: Energy Deposition (3369)
Scientific paper
The NASA TIMED mission has been operating since December 7, 2001. In that short time, this low-budget, small-satellite mission has made great contributions to our understanding of the coupled ionosphere- thermosphere-mesosphere system. Of the four instruments on TIMED, the Global Ultraviolet Imager (GUVI) has as its focus the upper atmosphere - from about 130 km and up to the exobase (over 500 km). In this paper I will provide a brief description of some what GUVI has told us about the mean behavior of the thermosphere and ionosphere and the response of the IT system to high latitude drivers. The data set from GUVI is rich and diverse and much more cna be done with it to improve our understanding of the IT system. While we have a very rudimentary view of the mean behavior of the neutral thermosphere as embodied in the MSIS model, GUVI has demonstrated that the response of the neutral atmosphere to perturbations is complex - in fact, one wonders whether we have seen the quiescent state of the thermosphere, even as we approach solar minimum. Comparisons with MSIS show that significant issues remain. We can test our understanding of the upper atmosphere by evaluating the response to and the recovery from an impulsive event such as a geomagnetic disturbance. To do that we need a global data set of thermospheric observations (i.e. at more than one local solar time). The TIMED satellite enables these studies to some degree as it covers all local solar times in 60 days. Ideally one would simultaneous coverage at at least one more local solar time. That can be achieved by using data from the DMSP SSUSI instruments. TIMED has shown that a very low-cost mission can make a contribution to our understanding of the global IT system. The planned IT Storm Probes and Geospace Electrodynamics Connections (GEC) missions are the only IT mission planned for the next 15 years. These low-cost multi-satellite missions are slated to begin operations in 2016 - at the earliest. The community should note that the combined follow-on to DMSP and NOAA (NPOESS) has little in the way of upper atmospheric or space weather measurements. What will be the legacy of TIMED in such an environment?
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