Evaluating the Impact of Whole Atmosphere Coupling on Storm Time Response in the Ionosphere and Plasmasphere
Abstract
This study aims to evaluate the impact of whole atmospheric coupling on storm time response in the ionosphere and plasmasphere during geomagnetically disturbed periods. The influence of coupling to terrestrial weather during storm time has drawn little attention. There are some unresolved questions: Whether or not the geo-effectiveness of magnetic storms could be changed when the upper atmosphere has been pre-conditioned by the lower atmospheric forcing; How does the lower atmospheric forcing modulate the recovery to a quiet level from a disturbed level? Recently, we have coupled the Ionosphere-Plasmasphere-Electrodynamics (IPE) model with the Whole Atmosphere Model (WAM) to investigate the connection between terrestrial and space weather. This presentation focuses on how some typical storm time phenomena in the ionosphere and plasmasphere are affected by the inclusion of forcing from below during geomagnetically active periods in simulations performed using the coupled WAM-IPE model. The presentation focuses on such phenomena as (1) temporal and spatial evolution of the Storm Enhanced Density (SED) plumes/Tongue of Ionizations (TOIs); (2) hemispheric asymmetry in SED plumes/TOIs; (3) coupling between the Ionosphere-Plasmasphere via plumes and refilling, for the two St. Patricks' day storms in 2013 and 2015. The impact of lower atmospheric forcing is evaluated by comparing results with and without including forcing from below. Furthermore, the presentation discusses how the lower atmospheric forcing can influence the differences in storm time response in the ionosphere and plasmasphere.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2017
- Bibcode:
- 2017AGUFMSA43C..03M
- Keywords:
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- 2411 Electric fields;
- IONOSPHERE;
- 2431 Ionosphere/magnetosphere interactions;
- IONOSPHERE;
- 2463 Plasma convection;
- IONOSPHERE;
- 2788 Magnetic storms and substorms;
- MAGNETOSPHERIC PHYSICS