Observation of WINDII polar hemispheric spiral patterns in wind and emission rate as a measure of energy input to the ionosphere-atmosphere system

Polar hemispheric images of the atomic oxygen O1S green line 557.7 nm thermospheric dayglow emission and winds derived from that emission provide a measure of energy input from the magnetosphere, delivered through the aurora to the ionosphere-thermosphere system. These images, provided by the WINDII (WIND Imaging Interferometer) instrument, operated on NASA's UARS (Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite) from 1991 to 2003, are spatio-temporal patterns obtained during a single day, a composite of data from all orbits for that day. These images regularly reveal spiral patterns, originating in the auroral region and extending to the equator. This dayglow emission, obtained from 250 km altitude, is normally dominated by photoelectron impact on atomic oxygen, but model results indicate that the spiral enhancements are the result of the dissociative recombination of O2+, which along with other evidence suggests a relationship to TIDs (Travelling Ionospheric Disturbances); the wind observations support that interpretation. Direct observation confirming the emission ionospheric source is sought. Nighttime images show very weak emission that can only be produced by the dissociative recombination source. A clue to the dominant daytime source may be the Doppler temperature of the green line emission, which would be hot (non-thermal) for dissociative recombination. In this presentation, an earlier case study for a single day is extended to a series of days corresponding to a wide range of energy input with the objective of relating that input to the observed characteristics of these daily emission rate and wind spiral patterns.