DE 2 observations of disturbances in the upper atmosphere during a geomagnetic storm

Journal Article · Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 EST 1990 · Journal of Geophysical Research; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/JA095iA12p21017· OSTI ID:5311562

Miller, N J; Brace, L H; Spencer, N W ^[1]; Carignan, G R ^[2]

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1. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD (USA)
2. Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor (USA)

Data taken in the dusk sector of the mid-latitude thermosphere at 275-450 km by instruments on board Dynamics Explorer 2 in polar orbit are used to examine the response of the ionosphere- thermosphere system during a geomagnetic storm. The results represent the first comparison of nearly simultaneous measurements of storm disturbances in dc electric fields, zonal ion convection, zonal winds, gas composition and temperature, and electron density and temperature, at different seasons in a common local time sector. The storm commenced on November 24, 1982, during the interaction of a solar wind disturbance with the geomagnetic field while the north-south component of the interplanetary magnetic field, B{sub z}, was northward. The storm main phase began while B{sub z} was turning southward. Storm-induced variations in meridional de electric fields, neutral composition, and N{sub e} were stronger and spread farther equatorward in the winter hemisphere. Westward ion convection was intense enough to produce westward winds of 600 m s{sup {minus} 1} via ion drag in the winter hemisphere. Frictional heating was sufficient to elevate ion temperatures above electron temperatures in both seasons and to produce large chemical losses of O{sup +} by increasing the rate of O{sup +} loss via ion-atom interchange. Part of the chemical loss of O{sup +} was compensated by upward flow of O{sup +} as the ion scale height adjusted to the increasing ion temperatures. In this storm, frictional heating was an important subauroral heat source equatorward to at least 53{degree} invariant latitude.

• OSTI ID: 5311562
• Journal Information: Journal of Geophysical Research; (United States), Vol. 95:A12; ISSN 0148-0227
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
MAGNETIC STORMS
IONOSPHERIC EFFECTS
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
DISTURBANCES
ELECTRIC FIELDS
ELECTRON DENSITY
ELECTRON TEMPERATURE
EXPLORER SATELLITES
INTERPLANETARY MAGNETIC FIELDS
ION DRIFT
ION TEMPERATURE
IONIC COMPOSITION
PLASMA HEATING
SOLAR WIND
THERMOSPHERE
WIND
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
EVALUATION
HEATING
MAGNETIC FIELDS
SATELLITES
SOLAR ACTIVITY
640201* - Atmospheric Physics- Auroral
Ionospheric
& Magetospheric Phenomena