The Role of Precipitating Energetic Particles in Coupling Atmospheric Regions

A key missing element in our understanding of the Sun-Earth system is the response of the atmosphere when precipitating particle energy is redistributed via dynamical, chemical, and radiative processes. Elucidating the coupling intrinsic to this response is a prerequisite for understanding and predicting variability in and across many atmospheric regions. A priority for future observations is the Energetic Particle Precipitation (EPP) Indirect Effect (IE), by which odd nitrogen compounds produced by EPP in the upper atmosphere descend to the stratosphere, perturbing ozone chemistry and thus the radiative balance of the middle atmosphere. It has been shown that EPP IE occurs nearly every year in both hemispheres, and is modulated by variability in both the EPP and atmospheric meteorology. In this talk, we will summarize the current state of knowledge of EPP IE, the observational evidence for it in the last few decades, and what is required of future observations. We will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of various measurement techniques for observing odd nitrogen and descent, along with uncertainties in the analysis methods.