Composition Changes Around the Equinoxes

Thermospheric composition undergoes both short term and long term changes. One of the least understood phenomenon is the way that composition changes from its solstice state with enhanced O/N2 in winter through to its opposite solstice state. In this presentation we use data from both GOLD and GUVI to understand how these changes occur in solar minimum conditions. Some important findings of this study is that the transition period is short compared with the solstice periods and that the nature of the transition varies with longitude