Delayed Ionospheric Response to Solar EUV/UV Radiation Variations

The variability of the thermosphere-ionosphere (T-I) system and its complex behavior is strongly dependent on the continuously changing solar extreme ultraviolet (EUV) and ultraviolet (UV) radiation. The ionospheric electron density (or ion density) is mainly controlled by photoionization, loss by recombination, and transport processes. Transport processes play a significant role in the T-I composition and are responsible for the plasma distribution. The ionospheric response to solar activity has been investigated using total electron content (TEC) and solar EUV observations, as well as various solar proxies. An ionospheric delay of about 1-2 days in the daily TEC on the time scale of 27 days solar rotation period has been reported. It has also been shown that the He-II index is one of the best solar proxies to represent the solar activity at different time scales. The ionospheric delay in relation to solar radiation variations has attracted less attention in the past, especially with respect to its possible mechanisms. However, such studies, are of great importance for a better understanding of the complex interactions between solar radiation and the ionosphere that affect radio communications and navigation systems such as GNSS. Since the T-I region is affected not only by solar radiation, but also by lower atmospheric forcings, geomagnetic activity, and space weather events. Therefore, numerical modeling provides an opportunity to interpret the possible physical mechanism. To shed more light on this issue, a global, 3-D, time-dependent, physics-based numerical model was used in this thesis. It is a comprehensive numerical study to investigate the ionospheric response to solar flux changes during the 27 days solar rotation period. Satellite observations were used for comparison with the model simulations. The average delay for the observed (modeled) TEC is about 17 (16) h againest high-resolution solar EUV flux. The study confirms the capabilities of the model to reproduce the delayed ionospheric response with daily and hourly resolution. These results are in close agreement with previous studies. For the first time, the model simulations were performed to understand the role of eddy diffusion. The study shows that eddy diffusion is an important factor affecting the ionospheric delay and highlights the influence of the lower atmospheric forcing. Eddy diffusion was found to cause a change in thermospheric composition, which induces changes in atomic oxygen by modifying loss and photoionization rates. Atomic oxygen contributes significantly to ionization. Enhanced eddy diffusion leads to a decrease in atomic oxygen ion density and consequently TEC. Therefore, TEC decreases due to enhanced eddy diffusion, showing that the ionospheric delay is reduced. Thus, slow transport leads to maximum ionospheric delay.:Bibliographische Beschreibung Bibliographic Description Acronyms 1 General introduction 1.1 Introduction: Ionospheric delayed response 1.2 Objectives and structure of the thesis 1.3 Model description and data 1.3.1 CTIPe model description 1.3.2 Data 2 Paper 1: Ionospheric delayed response: preliminary results Vaishnav, R., Jacobi, C., Berdermann, J., Schmölter, E., and Codrescu, M.: Ionospheric response to solar EUV variations: Preliminary results 3 Paper 2: Long term trends of ionospheric response to solar EUV variations Vaishnav, R., Jacobi, C., and Berdermann, J.: Long-term trends in the iono- spheric response to solar extreme-ultraviolet variations 4 Paper 3: Comparison between CTIPe model simulations and satellite measurements Vaishnav, R., Schmölter, E., Jacobi, C., Berdermann, J., and Codrescu, M.: Ionospheric response to solar extreme ultraviolet radiation variations: com- parison based on CTIPe model simulations and satellite measurements 5 Paper 4: Role of eddy diffusion in the ionospheric delayed response Vaishnav, R., Jacobi, C., Berdermann, J., Codrescu, M., and Schmölter, E.: Role of eddy diffusion in the delayed ionospheric response to solar flux changes 6 Conclusions 7 Outlook References Acknowledgements Curriculum Vitae AffirmationDie Veränderungen des Thermosphäre-Ionosphäre (T-I) Systems und dessen Komplexität werden entscheidend durch die sich ständig ändernde extreme ultraviolette (EUV) und ultraviolette (UV) Sonnenstrahlung geprägt. Hierbei wird die ionosphärische Elektronendichte (oder Ionendichte) hauptsächlich durch Photoionisation, Rekombination und Transportprozesse gesteuert. Insbesondere Transportprozesse spielen eine wichtige Rolle für die Zusammensetzung des T-I-Systems und sind für die Plasmaverteilung verantwortlich. Die ionosphärische Reaktion auf Veränderungen der Sonnenaktivität wurde mithilfe des Gesamtelektronengehalts (englisch total electron content, TEC) und Messdaten des solaren EUV-Spektrums sowie solaren Proxys untersucht. Eine ionosphärische Verzögerung von 1 bis 2 Tagen für Tageswerte von TEC wurde für die 27-Tage-Sonnenrotation gefunden. Es wurde auch gezeigt, dass der He-II-Index einer der besten solaren Proxys ist, um die Sonnenaktivität auf verschiedenen Zeitskalen zu beschreiben. Die ionosphärische Verzögerung in Bezug auf Variationen der Sonnenstrahlung wurde in der Vergangenheit wenig Aufmerksamkeit gewidmet. Insbesondere die zugrundenliegenden Mechanismen wurden nicht untersucht. Solche Studien sind jedoch von entscheidender Bedeutung für ein besseres Verständnis der komplexen Wechselwirkungen zwischen Sonnenstrahlung und Ionosphäre, die unteranderem die Leistung von Radiokommunikation und globalen Navigationssystemen beeinflussen. Das T-I-System wird jedoch nicht nur von der solaren EUV-Strahlung kontrolliert. Prozesse der unteren Atmosphäre, geomagnetische Aktivität und Weltraumwettereignisse haben ebenfalls einen Einfluss auf diese Region. Daher bietet sich numerische Modellierung als Möglichkeit für die Interpretation der physikalischen Prozesse an. Zur Klärung der offenen Fragen wurde in dieser Arbeit ein globales, dreidimensionales, zeitabhängiges physikalisches Modell verwendet und eine umfangreiche Studie der ionosphärischen Reaktion auf Veränderungen der Sonnenstrahlungen während der 27-Tage-Sonnenrotation wurde durchgeführt. Hierfür wurden Messdaten von Satellitenmissionen mit den Modellsimulationen verglichen. Im Mittel ergibt sich eine Verzögerung von 16 Stunden aus der Analyse der Messdaten und eine Verzögerung von 17 Stunden aus den Modellsimulationen. Die Studie bestätigt demnach die Fähigkeit des Modells, die verzögerte ionosphärische Reaktion in stündlicher und täglicher Auflösung zu simulieren. Diese Ergebnisse stimmen gut mit vorangegangenen Studien überein. Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit wurden zum ersten Mal Simulationen zum Einfluss der Eddy-Diffusion durchgeführt. Diese Analyse zeigt, dass die Eddy-Diffusion ein wichtiger Faktor für die Ausprägung der ionosphärischen Verzögerung ist und dass der Einfluss von Prozessen der unteren Atmosphäre eine entscheidende Rolle spielt. Es wurde festgestellt, dass die Eddy-Diffusion eine erhebliche Veränderung der thermosphärischen Zusammensetzung verursacht, was wiederum zu Veränderung der Menge des atomaren Sauerstoffs führt. Dies beeinflusst dann die Ionisations- und Verlustrate. Da der atomare Sauerstoff erheblich zur Ionisierung beiträgt. Zunehmender Eddy-Diffusion folgen damit auch verkleinert der atomarer Sauerstoff Ionendichte und TEC. Daher nimmt TEC mit zunehmender Eddy-Diffusion ab und auch die Verzögerung wird kleiner. Andersherum führt ein langsamer Transport zu einem Maximum der ionosphärischen Verzögerung. Diese Dissertation gibt eine umfangreiche Zusammenfassung für das Verständnis der ionosphärischen Verzögerung zu Variationen der solaren EUV-Strahlung. Dafür werden TEC-Messungen mit numerischen Simulationen kombiniert. Weiterhin werden durch Vergleich die besten solaren Proxys für die Beschreibung der solaren Aktivität in T-I-Modellen bestimmt. Dies ist von entscheidender Bedeutung, um den Fokus auf die Verbesserung dieser Modelle zu lenken.:Bibliographische Beschreibung Bibliographic Description Acronyms 1 General introduction 1.1 Introduction: Ionospheric delayed response 1.2 Objectives and structure of the thesis 1.3 Model description and data 1.3.1 CTIPe model description 1.3.2 Data 2 Paper 1: Ionospheric delayed response: preliminary results Vaishnav, R., Jacobi, C., Berdermann, J., Schmölter, E., and Codrescu, M.: Ionospheric response to solar EUV variations: Preliminary results 3 Paper 2: Long term trends of ionospheric response to solar EUV variations Vaishnav, R., Jacobi, C., and Berdermann, J.: Long-term trends in the iono- spheric response to solar extreme-ultraviolet variations 4 Paper 3: Comparison between CTIPe model simulations and satellite measurements Vaishnav, R., Schmölter, E., Jacobi, C., Berdermann, J., and Codrescu, M.: Ionospheric response to solar extreme ultraviolet radiation variations: com- parison based on CTIPe model simulations and satellite measurements 5 Paper 4: Role of eddy diffusion in the ionospheric delayed response Vaishnav, R., Jacobi, C., Berdermann, J., Codrescu, M., and Schmölter, E.: Role of eddy diffusion in the delayed ionospheric response to solar flux changes 6 Conclusions 7 Outlook References Acknowledgements Curriculum Vitae Affirmatio

Increased CO₂ loss from vegetated drained lake tundra ecosystems due to flooding

Tundra ecosystems are especially sensitive to climate change, which is particularly rapid in high northern latitudes resulting in significant alterations in temperature and soil moisture. Numerous studies have demonstrated that soil drying increases the respiration loss from wet Arctic tundra. And, warming and drying of tundra soils are assumed to increase CO2 emissions from the Arctic. However, in this water table manipulation experiment (i.e., flooding experiment), we show that flooding of wet tundra can also lead to increased CO2 loss. Standing water increased heat conduction into the soil, leading to higher soil temperature, deeper thaw and, surprisingly, to higher CO2 loss in the most anaerobic of the experimental areas. The study site is located in a drained lake basin, and the soils are characterized by wetter conditions than upland tundra. In experimentally flooded areas, high wind speeds (greater than ~4 m s−1) increased CO2 emission rates, sometimes overwhelming the photosynthetic uptake, even during daytime. This suggests that CO2 efflux from C rich soils and surface waters can be limited by surface exchange processes. The comparison of the CO2 and CH4 emission in an anaerobic soil incubation experiment showed that in this ecosystem, CO2 production is an order of magnitude higher than CH4 production. Future increases in surface water ponding, linked to surface subsidence and thermokarst erosion, and concomitant increases in soil warming, can increase net C efflux from these arctic ecosystems

Electric Current and Noise in Long GaN Nanowires in the Space-Charge Limited Transport Regime

We studied electric current and noise in planar GaN nanowires (NWs). The results obtained at low voltages provide us with estimates of the depletion effects in the NWs. For larger voltages, we observed the space-charge limited current (SCLC) effect. The onset of the effect clearly correlates with the NW width. For narrow NWs the mature SCLC regime was achieved. This effect has great impact on fluctuation characteristics of studied NWs. At low voltages, we found that the normalized noise level increases with decreasing NW width. In the SCLC regime, a further increase in the normalized noise intensity (up to 1E4 times) was observed, as well as a change in the shape of the spectra with a tendency towards slope -3/2. We suggest that the features of the electric current and noise found in the NWs are of a general character and will have an impact on the development of NW-based devices.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures in Fluctuation and Noise Letters (2017

Towards in vivo g-ratio mapping using MRI: unifying myelin and diffusion imaging

The g-ratio, quantifying the comparative thickness of the myelin sheath encasing an axon, is a geometrical invariant that has high functional relevance because of its importance in determining neuronal conduction velocity. Advances in MRI data acquisition and signal modelling have put in vivo mapping of the g-ratio, across the entire white matter, within our reach. This capacity would greatly increase our knowledge of the nervous system: how it functions, and how it is impacted by disease. This is the second review on the topic of g-ratio mapping using MRI. As such, it summarizes the most recent developments in the field, while also providing methodological background pertinent to aggregate g-ratio weighted mapping, and discussing pitfalls associated with these approaches. Using simulations based on recently published data, this review demonstrates the relevance of the calibration step for three myelin-markers (macromolecular tissue volume, myelin water fraction, and bound pool fraction). It highlights the need to estimate both the slope and offset of the relationship between these MRI-based markers and the true myelin volume fraction if we are really to achieve the goal of precise, high sensitivity g-ratio mapping in vivo. Other challenges discussed in this review further evidence the need for gold standard measurements of human brain tissue from ex vivo histology. We conclude that the quest to find the most appropriate MRI biomarkers to enable in vivo g-ratio mapping is ongoing, with the potential of many novel techniques yet to be investigated.Comment: Will be published as a review article in Journal of Neuroscience Methods as parf of the Special Issue with Hu Cheng and Vince Calhoun as Guest Editor

Role of gravity waves in vertical coupling during sudden stratospheric warmings

Gravity waves are primarily generated in the lower atmosphere, and can reach thermospheric heights in the course of their propagation. This paper reviews the recent progress in understanding the role of gravity waves in vertical coupling during sudden stratospheric warmings. Modeling of gravity wave effects is briefly reviewed, and the recent developments in the field are presented. Then, the impact of these waves on the general circulation of the upper atmosphere is outlined. Finally, the role of gravity waves in vertical coupling between the lower and the upper atmosphere is discussed in the context of sudden stratospheric warmings.Comment: Accepted for publication in Geoscience Letter

Index to NASA Tech Briefs, 1975

This index contains abstracts and four indexes--subject, personal author, originating Center, and Tech Brief number--for 1975 Tech Briefs