Simulated trends in ionosphere-thermosphere climate due to predicted main magnetic field changes from 2015 to 2065

The strength and structure of the Earth's magnetic field is gradually changing. During the next 50 years the dipole moment is predicted to decrease by ∼3.5%, with the South Atlantic Anomaly expanding, deepening, and continuing to move westward, while the magnetic dip poles move northwestward. We used simulations with the Thermosphere-Ionosphere-Electrodynamics General Circulation Model to study how predicted changes in the magnetic field will affect the climate of the thermosphere-ionosphere system from 2015 to 2065. The global mean neutral density in the thermosphere is expected to increase slightly, by up to 1% on average or up to 2% during geomagnetically disturbed conditions (Kp ≥ 4). This is due to an increase in Joule heating power, mainly in the Southern Hemisphere. Global mean changes in total electron content (TEC) range from −3% to +4%, depending on season and UT. However, regional changes can be much larger, up to about ±35% in the region of ∼45◦S to 45◦N and 110◦W to 0◦Wduring daytime. Changes in the vertical ⃗E × ⃗B drift are the most important driver of changes in TEC, although other plasma transport processes also play a role. A reduction in the low-latitude upward ⃗E × ⃗B drift weakens the equatorial ionization anomaly in the longitude sector of ∼105–60◦W, manifesting itself as a local increase in electron density over Jicamarca (12.0◦S, 76.9◦W). The predicted increase in neutral density associated with main magnetic field changes is very small compared to observed trends and other trend drivers, but the predicted changes in TEC could make a significant contribution to observationally detectable trends

Investigating the performance of simplified neutral‐ion collisional heating rate in a global IT model

The Joule heating rate has usually been used as an approximate form of the neutral‐ion collisional heating rate in the thermospheric energy equation in global thermosphere‐ionosphere models. This means that the energy coupling has ignored the energy gained by the ions from collisions with electrons. It was found that the globally averaged thermospheric temperature (Tn) was underestimated in simulations using the Joule heating rate, by about 11% when F10.7=110 solar flux unit (sfu, 1 sfu = 10−22 W m−2 Hz−1) in a quiet geomagnetic condition. The underestimation of Tn was higher at low latitudes than high latitudes, and higher at F region altitudes than at E region altitudes. It was found that adding additional neutral photoelectron heating in a global IT model compensated for the underestimation of Tn using the Joule heating approximation. Adding direct photoelectron heating to the neutrals compensated for the indirect path for the energy that flows from the electrons to the ions then to the neutrals naturally and therefore was an adequate compensation over the dayside. There was a slight dependence of the underestimation of Tn on F10.7, such that larger activity levels resulted in a need for more compensation in direct photoelectron heating to the neutrals to make up for the neglected indirect heating through ions and electrons.Key PointsUsing Joule heating rate as the neutral‐ion energy coupling led to a cooler thermosphereNeutral photoelectron heating efficiency compensates for the missing heatingA slight dependence of the underestimation of Tn on F10.7 existedPeer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/137627/1/jgra52323_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/137627/2/jgra52323.pd

Application of a Parametric Level-Set Approach to Topology Optimization of Fluids with the Navier–Stokes and Lattice Boltzmann Equations

Traditional material distribution based methods applied to the topology optimization of fluidic systems often suffer from rather slow convergence. The local influence of the design variables in the traditional material distribution based approaches is seen as the primary cause, leading to small gradients which cannot drive the optimization process sufficiently. The present work is an attempt to improve the rate of convergence of topology optimization methods of fluidic systems by employing a parametric level-set function coupled with a topology description approach. Using level-set methods, a global impact of design variables is achieved and the material description is decoupled from the flow field discretization. This promises to improve the gradients with respect to the design variables and can be applied to rather different types of fluid formulations and discretization methods. In the present work, a finite element method for solving the Navier-Stokes equations and a hydrodynamic finite difference lattice Boltzmann method are considered. Using a 2D example the parametric level-set approach is validated through comparison with traditional material distribution based methods. While the parametric level-set approach leads to the desired optimal designs and has advantages such as improved modularity and smoothness of design boundaries when compared to material distribution based methods, the present study does not reveal improvements for the convergence of the optimization problem

Equatorial vertical drift modulation by the lunar and solar semidiurnal tides during the 2013 sudden stratospheric warming

During the 2013 stratospheric sudden warming (SSW) period the Jicamarca Unattended Long-term Investigations of the Ionosphere and Atmosphere (JULIA) radar at Jicarmarca, Peru, observed low-latitude vertical drift modulation with lows of 0-12 m/s daytime maximum drifts between 6-13 and 22-25 January and enhanced drifts up to 43 m/s between 15 snd 19 January. The NCAR thermosphere-ionosphere-mesosphere-electrodynamics general circulation model reproduces the prevailing vertical drift feature and is used to examine possible causes. The simulations indicate that the modulation of the vertical drift is generated by the beating of the semidiurnal solar SW2 and lunar M2 tides. During the SSW period the beating is observable since the magnitudes of lunar and solar semidiurnal tidal amplitudes are comparable. The theoretical beating frequency between SW2 and M2 is 1/(15.13 day) which may be modified due to phase changes. This study highlights the importance of the lunar tide during SSW periods and indicates that the equatorial vertical drift modulation should be observable at other longitudes as well. Ω2016. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved

On the relative roles of dynamics and chemistry governing the abundance and diurnal variation of low latitude thermospheric nitric oxide

We use data from two NASA satellites, the Thermosphere Ionosphere Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED) and the Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) satellites in conjunction with model simulations from the Thermosphere-Ionosphere-Mesosphere-Electrodynamics General Circulation Model (TIME-GCM) to elucidate the key dynamical and chemical factors governing the abundance and diurnal variation of nitric oxide (NO) at near solar minimum conditions and low latitudes. This analysis was enabled by the recent orbital precession of the AIM satellite which caused the solar occultation pattern measured by the Solar Occultation for Ice Experiment (SOFIE) to migrate down to low and mid latitudes for specific periods of time. We use a month of NO data collected in January 2017 to compare with two versions of the TIME-GCM, one driven solely by climatological tides and analysis-derived planetary waves at the lower boundary and free running at all other altitudes, while the other is constrained by a high-altitude analysis from the Navy Global Environmental Model (NAVGEM)up to the mesopause. We also compare SOFIE data with a NO climatology from the Nitric Oxide Empirical Model (NOEM). Both SOFIE and NOEM yield peak NO abundances of around 4×107cm−3; however, the SOFIE profile peaks about 6-8 km lower than NOEM. We show that this difference is likely a local time effect; SOFIE being a dawn measurement and NOEM representing late morning/near noon. The constrained version of TIME-GCM exhibits a low altitude dawn peak while the model that is forced solely at the lower boundary and free running above does not. We attribute this difference due to a phase change in the semi-diurnal tide in the NAVGEM-constrained model causing descent of high NO mixing ratio air near dawn. This phase difference between the two models arises due to differences in the mesospheric zonal mean zonal winds. Regarding the absolute NO abundance, all versions of the TIME-GCM overestimate this. Tuning the model to yield calculated atomic oxygen in agreement with TIMED data helps, but is insufficient. Further, the TIME-GCM underestimates the electron density [e-] as compared with the International Reference Ionosphere empirical model. This suggests a potential conflict with the requirements of NO modeling and [e-] modeling since one solution typically used to increase model [e-] is to increase the solar soft X ray flux which would, in this case, worsen the NO model/data discrepancy

A Scalable Parallel Approach for High-Fidelity Aerostructural Analysis and Optimization

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/97076/1/AIAA2012-1922.pd