München 2019 – scientific programme
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EP: Fachverband Extraterrestrische Physik
EP 9: Poster
EP 9.24: Poster
Thursday, March 21, 2019, 16:30–19:00, Durchgangshalle
NO production in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere during a geomagnetic storm in April 2010 — •Miriam Sinnhuber1 and Stefan Bender2 — 1Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany — 2University of Trondheim, Trondheim, Norway
Electrons accelerated in the magnetosphere during geomagnetic storms precipitate into the polar atmosphere above ≈60 km altitude. Energetic electron precipitation is a major source of NO in the high latitude mesosphere and lower thermosphere due to collision reactions leading to excitation, dissociation and ionization of N2, O2 and O, and subsequent ion chemistry reactions.
We investigate NO production during one geomagnetic storm in April 2010 combining observations from SCIAMACHY/ENVISAT with results from a global chemistry-climate model extending up into the thermosphere at about 250 km. During and after the storm, both observations and model results show a clear NO enhancement at geomagnetic latitudes roughly related to the radiation belts. However, comparing the model results to observations reveal differences both in the amount and spatial coverage of the NO production. These differences indicate significant problems probably with the representation of electron precipitation in the model.