Ionospheric Irregularities: Frontiers

Abstract

There are several thermosphere ionosphere models with bottom boundaries somewhere in the middle atmosphere. Achieving a true whole atmosphere modeling capability requires the specification of atmospheric conditions at a boundary. This chapter discusses the use of the Navy Operational Global Atmospheric Prediction System‐Advanced Level Physics High Altitude (NOGAPS‐ALPHA) model as a bottom boundary for the thermosphere ionosphere electrodynamics general circulation model (TIEGCM). The results are compared with Sounding of the Atmosphere with Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) observations and previously published model results. The chapter presents an evaluation of the behavior of tidal components at the interface between the two models, and suggests a method to reduce the discontinuities. Consistent with previous models, a marked decrease is found in the semidiurnal tide after the dramatic sudden stratospheric warming in late January 2009.