Space Weather: On the Quantification of Energy Sources and Sinks in the Thermosphere Ionosphere Plasmasphere System

University Of Colorado At Boulder, Boulder CO

Investigators

Abstract

In this effort, the Coupled Thermosphere Ionosphere Plasmasphere Electrodynamics (CTIPe) model, originally developed for use on supercomputers, will be implemented in the desktop computer environment for broader use at the Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC) at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. The PIs will reassess and modify the current model to achieve improved accuracy. The proposers plan a three-step approach to quantifying the energy sources and sinks that affect the outputs of the CTIPe model. The first step will reproduce the global steady-state thermosphere and ionosphere derived from the MSIS and IRI models by self-consistently adjusting the energy sources and sinks in the CTIPe model (e.g. UV and EUV heating, NO cooling, Joule heating, etc.). The intention is to systematically adjust the appropriate energy sources and sinks in CTIPe in order to reproduce the global structure of the empirically modeled thermosphere and ionosphere. The second step will compare steady-state CTIPe model runs against climatology data from the TIMED mission for further adjustment of the energy sources and sinks. The third step will compare the model, with appropriate sources and sinks, to TIMED and ground based data.