Thermospheric wind and temperature climatology for the equatorial region: Results and comparisons with the WAM model predictions

Physics

Scientific paper

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[2415] Ionosphere / Equatorial Ionosphere, [3369] Atmospheric Processes / Thermospheric Dynamics, [3389] Atmospheric Processes / Tides And Planetary Waves, [7924] Space Weather / Forecasting

Scientific paper

Simultaneous Fabry-Perot interferometer (FPI) observations of nighttime thermospheric winds and temperatures from multiple sites in South America have been obtained from the equinoctial period, September 2010, and from the winter solstice period of June and July 2011. These observations were made at the Peruvian FPI sites at the Jicamarca Radio Observatory (11.96 S, 76.86 W) and Nazca (14.97°S, 74.89°W) and for the Brazilian FPI sites at Cariri (7.38°S, 36.53°W) and Cajazeiras (6.89°S, 38.56°W). A full 12-month climatology record of thermospheric winds and temperatures has been obtained for the two Brazilian FPI sites over the extended solar minimum 2009-2011 period. The analysis of the simultaneous results shows zonal winds that are 50 to 75% faster at Jicamarca, as compared to the zonal wind speeds observed at the two Brazilian sites, with peak winds near 135 to 150 ms-1. This finding is consistent with increased plasma density in the equatorial ionization anomaly over the Brazilian sites, which would produce increased ion drag. For the equinoctial period for both longitudinal sectors, the meridional winds show similar behavior of generally weak winds with northward surges of 50-75 ms-1 occurring at around 22-23 LT and 04-05 LT. This similarity suggests the dominance of the winds by tidal wind forcing from below and is supported by comparison with the WAM meridional wind nighttime behavior. The temperature observations show the appearance of the midnight temperature maximum (MTM) for both longitudinal sectors at almost the same local time (23-24 LT) with similar peak amplitudes of ~100-150 K. The Jicamarca temperatures are seen to be slightly warmer by 25 to 50 K. These results are found to be reasonably consistent with the predictions of the WAM model, which successfully produced a MTM amplitude of much the same magnitude as is observed for all four seaons.

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