Solar occultation measurements of the thermosphere by the TIMED Solar EUV Experiment (SEE)

The Solar EUV Experiment (SEE) on board the Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED) satellite is occasionally able to make measurements of solar occultation by the upper atmosphere. During each brief occultation opportunity, SEE is able to observe the Sun through the atmosphere at a single tangent height on the limb. SEE has made more than four hundred such observations since 2002, spanning tangent altitudes of 100-400 km. The EUV Grating Spectrograph (EGS) component of the SEE observes the solar spectral irradiance from 27-194 nm at 0.4 nm resolution. This broad wavelength coverage allows for measurements of atmospheric absorption by N2, O2, and O. We will introduce the new SEE solar occultation data product and present comparisons of SEE occultation-derived densities with the MSIS neutral atmosphere model.