Validation of high-latitude TIEGCM inputs using geomagnetic storm observations by GOLD

The Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) and the Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) are the new NASA missions focusing on the Earth's mesosphere/thermosphere and its response to the space weather. GOLD is in geostationary orbit above the mouth of the Amazon, whereas ICON will be in a 27^◦ -inclination orbit at 580 km altitude. ICON's neutral wind and temperature measurements will be used through Hough mode extensions in the ThermosphereIonosphere-Electrodynamics General Circulation Model V2.0 (TIEGCM 2.0) to study tidal forcing from below the thermosphere as well as the response of the ionosphere-thermosphere (IT) system to space weather events. The built-in high latitude inputs for TIEGCM 2.0 are the Weimer potential model (Weimer05), the Heelis potential model (Heelis), and the Assimilative Mapping of Ionospheric Electrodynamics (AMIE). In this work, we compare GOLD observations with three TIEGCM 2.0 runs which use Weimer05, Heelis, and AMIE as the high-latitude inputs. Both ICON and GOLD provide the ratio of the column-integrated concentrations of O and N₂ ([O]/[N₂]) in the sunlit atmosphere. This overlap in data products will allow us to validate the different high-latitude inputs of the TIEGCM. We use a geomagnetic storm from November 2018 and corresponding GOLD observations as an initial test of the high-latitude inputs. Also, the large latitude coverage of GOLD from the equator to the auroral zone provides further validation at high latitude.