Record-low thermospheric density during the 2008 solar minimum

Details Record-low thermospheric density during the 2008 solar minimum Record-low thermospheric density during the 2008 solar minimum

Jun 2010

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010georl..3712102e&link_type=abstract

Geophysical Research Letters, Volume 37, Issue 12, CiteID L12102

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

37

Atmospheric Composition And Structure: Thermosphere: Composition And Chemistry, Atmospheric Composition And Structure: Pressure, Density, And Temperature, Atmospheric Composition And Structure: Thermosphere: Energy Deposition (3369), Solar Physics, Astrophysics, And Astronomy: Solar Activity Cycle (2162), Space Weather: Satellite Drag (1241)

Scientific paper

We use global-average thermospheric total mass density, derived from the drag effect on the orbits of many space objects, to study the behavior of the thermosphere during the prolonged minimum in solar activity between cycles 23 and 24. During 2007-2009 thermospheric densities at a fiducial altitude of 400 km were the lowest observed in the 43-year database, and were anomalously low, by 10-30%, compared with climatologically expected levels. The density anomalies appear to have commenced before 2006, well before the cycle 23/24 minimum, and are larger than expected from enhanced thermospheric cooling by increasing concentrations of CO2. The height dependence of the mass density anomalies suggests that they are attributable to a combination of lower-than-expected exospheric temperature (-14 K) and reductions in the number density of atomic oxygen (-12%) and other species (-3%) near the base of the diffusive portion of the thermosphere.

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