The NASA Global‐scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) mission has flown an ultraviolet‐imaging spectrograph on SES‐14, a communications satellite in geostationary orbit at 47.5°W longitude. That instrument observes the Earth's far ultraviolet (FUV) airglow at ~134–162 nm using two identical channels. The observations performed include limb scans, stellar occultations, and images of the sunlit and nightside disk from 6:10 to 00:40 universal time each day. Initial analyses reveal interesting and unexpected results as well as the potential for further studies of the Earth's thermosphere‐ionosphere system and its responses to solar‐geomagnetic forcing and atmospheric dynamics. Thermospheric composition ratios for major constituents, O and N2, temperatures near 160 km, and exospheric temperatures are retrieved from the daytime observations. Molecular oxygen (O2) densities are measured using stellar occultations. At night, emission from radiative recombination in the ionospheric F region is used to quantify ionospheric density variations in the equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA). Regions of depleted F region electron density are frequently evident, even during the current solar minimum. These depletions are caused by the “plasma fountain effect” and are associated with the instabilities, scintillations, or “spread F” seen in other types of observations, and GOLD makes unique observations for their study.

Observations from the recently launched Global‐Scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) instrument on the geostationary SES‐14 communications satellite reveal a substantial response of the mean state of the thermosphere to the Sudden Stratospheric Warming (SSW) event in early January 2019. The observed O/N 2 column density depletion of more than 10% starts at the onset of the SSW, maximizes at the time of the stratospheric wind reversal, and recovers toward the end of the SSW. A connection between SSW and thermospheric composition was previously predicted by model simulations but could not be observed before. The GOLD measurements support the scenario that enhanced global‐scale wave activity during SSWs causes an enhanced wave driving of the lower thermosphere zonal mean circulation that leads to a reduction in lower thermosphere atomic oxygen, which then propagates through molecular diffusion into the upper thermosphere.

The extended Canadian Middle Atmosphere Model (eCMAM) was recently run in a nudged mode using reanalysis data from the ground to 1 hPa for the period of January 1979 to June 2010 (hence the name eCMAM30). In this paper, eCMAM30 temperature is used to examine the background mean temperature, the spectrum of the diurnal tides, and the climatology of the migrating diurnal tide Dw1 and three nonmigrating diurnal tides De3, Dw2, and Ds0 in the stratosphere, mesosphere, and lower thermosphere. The model results are then compared to the diurnal tidal climatology derived from Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) observations between 40 to 110 km and 50°S to 50°N from January 2002 to December 2013. The model reproduces the latitudinal background mean temperature gradients well except that the cold mesopause temperature in eCMAM30 is 10 to 20 K colder than SABER. The diurnal tidal spectra and their relative strengths compare very well between eCMAM30 and SABER. The altitude-latitude structures for the four diurnal tidal components (Dw1, De3, Dw2, and Ds0) from the two datasets are also in very good agreement even for structures in the stratosphere with a weaker amplitude. The largest discrepancy between the model and SABER is associated with the seasonal variation of De3. In addition to the Northern Hemisphere (NH) summer maximum, a secondary maximum occurs during NH winter (December-February) in the model but is absent in SABER. The seasonal variations of the other three diurnal tidal components are in good agreement. Interannual time series of Dw1 and De3 from both eCMAM30 and SABER reveal variability with a period of 25 to 26 months, which indicates the modulation of the diurnal tides by the stratospheric quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO).

Using the thermosphere‐ionosphere‐mesosphere electrodynamics general circulation model simulations, we investigate the short‐term ionospheric variability due to the child waves and altered tides produced by the nonlinear interaction between the 6 day wave and migrating tides. Via the Fourier spectral diagnostics and least squares fittings, the [21 h, W2] and [13 h, W1] child waves, generated by the interaction of the 6 day wave with the DW1 and SW2, respectively, are found to play the leading roles on the subdiurnal variability (e.g., ±10 m/s in the ion drift and ~50% in the NmF2) in the F region vertical ion drift changes through the dynamo modulation induced by the low‐latitude zonal wind and the meridional wind at higher latitudes. The relatively minor contribution of the [11 h, W3] child wave is explicit as well. Although the [29 h, W0] child wave has the largest magnitude in the E region, its effect is totally absent in the vertical ion drift due to the zonally uniform structure. But the [29 h, W0] child wave shows up in the NmF2. It is found that the NmF2 short‐term variability is attributed to the wave modulations on both E region dynamo and in situ F region composition. Also, the altered migrating tides due to the interaction will not contribute to the ionospheric changes significantly.

[1] We present the global distribution, seasonal, and interannual variations of the lower mesospheric inversion layers (MILs) using SABER (Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry) temperature data. We show that both the characteristics and the formation mechanisms of large spatiotemporal-scale lower MILs are latitude dependent. At low latitudes, the monthly zonal mean amplitude of the lower MILs exhibits a semi-annual cycle and reaches a maximum of $40 K in spring and a secondary maximum of $30 K in autumn. On the equator, the semi-annual oscillations in the background and diurnal-migrating-tide temperatures could contribute more than 12 and 25 K, respectively, suggesting they are the key causes of large spatiotemporal-scale lower MILs at low latitudes. At middle latitudes, the monthly zonal mean amplitude of the lower MILs exhibits an annual cycle with its maximum in the range 24-33 K in winter. In addition, their longitudinal distribution and daily variation in winter are closely correlated with the transient structure of a composite wave composed of stationary and westward-propagating quasi-16-day planetary waves with zonal wave number 1. The correlation coefficient between the lower MILs and the composite wave can sometimes reach unity. The composite planetary wave could contribute temperature enhancements of at least 15-20 K to the lower MILs. Thus, we believe that the transient structure of planetary waves is also an important cause of the large spatiotemporal-scale lower MILs in winter at middle latitudes, in addition to previously proposed mechanisms.

[1] We adopt a broad spectral data analyzing method to derive the continuous altitude variability of inertial gravity wave (GW) parameter properties in the altitude range of 2-25 km from 11 year (1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008) radiosonde observations over 92 United States stations locating in the latitude range from 5°N to 75°N. To our knowledge, this is the first time presenting latitudinal and continuous altitudinal variability of lower atmospheric GW parameters. The presented latitudinal distribution of GW parameters indicates that the wave energy in the troposphere and lower stratosphere peaks, respectively, at the middle and lower latitudes; and at lower latitudes, GWs usually have larger ratios of wave intrinsic frequency to Coriolis parameter, smaller intrinsic frequencies, shorter vertical wavelengths, and longer horizontal wavelengths. Our analyses also revealed continuous altitudinal variations of GW parameters, most of which are closely related to those of the background temperature and wind fields, indicating the important role of background atmosphere in excitation and propagation of GWs. Moreover, our results suggested the profound climatological impacts of GWs on background atmosphere. The GW-induced force tends to decelerate the zonal jet at middle latitudes and produces a negative vertical shear in the northward wind closely above the tropopause altitude. The GW heat flux tends to cool the atmosphere around the tropospheric jet altitude and contributes significantly to the forming of tropospheric inversions at middle latitudes. Additionally, we demonstrated that GW energy densities, momentum, and heat fluxes have evident seasonal variations, especially at middle latitudes.

The Thermosphere‐Ionosphere‐Mesosphere Electrodynamics General Circulation Model (TIME‐GCM) is used to theoretically study the 6 day wave effects on the ionosphere. By introducing a 6 day perturbation with zonal wave number 1 at the model lower boundary, the TIME‐GCM reasonably reproduces the 6 day wave in temperature and horizontal winds in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere region during the vernal equinox. The E region wind dynamo exhibits a prominent 6 day oscillation that is directly modulated by the 6 day wave. Meanwhile, significant local time variability (diurnal and semidiurnal) is also seen in wind dynamo as a result of altered tides due to the nonlinear interaction between the 6 day wave and migrating tides. More importantly, the perturbations in the E region neutral winds (both the 6 day oscillation and tidal‐induced short‐term variability) modulate the polarization electric fields, thus leading to the perturbations in vertical ion drifts and ionospheric F2 region peak electron density (NmF2). Our modeling work shows that the 6 day wave couples with the ionosphere via both the direct neutral wind modulation and the interaction with atmospheric tides.

New ionosphere and electrodynamics modules have been incorporated in the thermosphere and ionosphere eXtension of the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM‐X), in order to self‐consistently simulate the coupled atmosphere‐ionosphere system. The first specified dynamics WACCM‐X v.2.0 results are compared with several data sets, and with the Thermosphere‐Ionosphere‐Electrodynamics General Circulation Model (TIE‐GCM), during the deep solar minimum year. Comparisons with Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics satellite of temperature and zonal wind in the lower thermosphere show that WACCM‐X reproduces the seasonal variability of tides remarkably well, including the migrating diurnal and semidiurnal components and the nonmigrating diurnal eastward propagating zonal wavenumber 3 component. There is overall agreement between WACCM‐X, TIE‐GCM, and vertical drifts observed by the Communication/Navigation Outage Forecast System (C/NOFS) satellite over the magnetic equator, but apparent discrepancies also exist. Both model results are dominated by diurnal variations, while C/NOFS observed vertical plasma drifts exhibit strong temporal variations. The climatological features of ionospheric peak densities and heights (NmF2 and hmF2) from WACCM‐X are in general agreement with the results derived from Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate (COSMIC) data, although the WACCM‐X predicted NmF2 values are smaller, and the equatorial ionization anomaly crests are closer to the magnetic equator compared to COSMIC and ionosonde observations. This may result from the excessive mixing in the lower thermosphere due to the gravity wave parameterization. These data‐model comparisons demonstrate that WACCM‐X can capture the dynamic behavior of the coupled atmosphere and ionosphere in a climatological sense.