[1] This paper presents a study of thermospheric and ionospheric response to the 2008 minor sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) event. This period was characterized by low solar and geomagnetic activity. The study was performed using the Global Self-consistent Model of Thermosphere, Ionosphere, and Protonosphere (GSM TIP). Model results were compared with ionosonde data from Irkutsk, Kaliningrad, Sao Jose dos Campos, and Jicamarca. The SSW event was modeled by specifying the temperature and density perturbations at the lower boundary of the GSM TIP (80 km altitude). GSM TIP simulation allowed the reproduction of the lower thermosphere temperature disturbances (the occurrence of the quasi-wave 1 structure at 80-130 km altitude with a vertical scale of $40 km), the negative response of F2 region electron density and the positive response of electron temperature at 300 km during the 2008 minor SSW event. The main formation mechanism of the global ionospheric response is due to the disturbances (decrease) in the n(O)/n(N2) ratio. The change in zonal electric field is another important mechanism of the ionospheric response at low latitudes.

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This study investigates the impact of dynamical processes in the neutral atmosphere on the high-midlatitude ionosphere during two sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) events. For this purpose, the reanalysis meteorological data of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCEP/NCAR) and UK Met Office (UKMO) were used in addition to that from the high-midlatitude chain of Russian ionosonde stations. The results show that the ionospheric response to the SSW events at high-midlatitudes depends on the position of the ionosonde stations relative to the stratospheric circulation pattern. Two well-pronounced effects were detected in this study. The first effect, observed in January 2009, was a negative effect in critical frequency (f o F2) and a positive effect in F2 layer maximum (h m F2) above the border of a stratospheric cyclone and an anticyclone with northward flow direction. During a 6-day period, the ionosphere exhibited a sharply inhomogeneous longitudinal structure when ionosondes, displaced at a longitude of approximately 20°, showed differences of approximately 1 MHz in f o F2 and more than 50 km in h m F2. The second feature, which was clearly observed in January 2013, implied a positive effect in f o F2 up to approximately 2.5 MHz and a negative effect in h m F2 at approximately 10 km above the center of the stratospheric cyclone. We conclude that these effects were caused by upward transport of molecular gas to the lower thermosphere for the first case and a pulldown forcing of molecular species above the low-pressure zone inside the cyclone for the second case. Changes in the O + /N 2 ratio in the lower thermosphere altered the O + recombination rate and the corresponding variations of ionosphere parameters.