Role Of the Sun and the Middle atmosphere/thermosphere/ionosphere In Climate (ROSMIC): a retrospective and prospective view

Abstract

While knowledge of the energy inputs from the Sun (as it is the primary energy source) is important for understanding the solar-terrestrial system, of equal importance is the manner in which the terrestrial part of the system organizes itself in a quasi-equilibrium state to accommodate and re-emit this energy. The ROSMIC project (2014–2018 inclusive) was the component of SCOSTEP’s Variability of the Sun and Its Terrestrial Impact (VarSITI) program which supported research into the terrestrial component of this system. The four themes supported under ROSMIC are solar influence on climate, coupling by dynamics, trends in the mesosphere lower thermosphere, and trends and solar influence in the thermosphere. Over the course of the VarSITI program, scientific advances were made in all four themes. This included improvements in understanding (1) the transport of photochemically produced species from the thermosphere into the lower atmosphere; (2) the manner in which waves produced in the lower atmosphere propagate upward and influence the winds, dynamical variability, and transport of constituents in the mesosphere, ionosphere, and thermosphere; (3) the character of the long-term trends in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere; and (4) the trends and structural changes taking place in the thermosphere. This paper reviews the progress made in these four areas over the past 5 years and summarizes the anticipated research directions in these areas in the future. It also provides a physical context of the elements which maintain the structure of the terrestrial component of this system. The effects that changes to the atmosphere (such as those currently occurring as a result of anthropogenic influences) as well as plausible variations in solar activity may have on the solar terrestrial system need to be understood to support and guide future human activities on Earth.

Characterization of the Thermospheric Mean Winds and Circulation During Solstice Using ICON/MIGHTI Observations

“…In this paper, we perform averaging of ICON/MIGHTI neutral winds over longitude, latitude and local time, and generally call the results "mean winds" as well. Besides the physical importance of winds and their mean structure discussed above, they are routinely used to validate theory and global scale models (or general circulation models) in the middle and upper atmosphere (e.g., Lieberman et al, 2000;Garcia et al, 2007;Dempsey et al, 2021;Griffith et al, 2021;Yigit et al, 2021;Koval et al, 2022).…”

Scientific motivations and future directions of whole atmosphere modeling

“…Although a number of researchers had previously explored the role of the lower atmosphere on generating ionospherethermosphere variability [e.g., (Chen, 1992;Stening et al, 1996;Forbes et al, 2000;Rishbeth and Mendillo, 2001)], it is only more recently that this coupling is widely understood to be an important source of variability in the ionosphere-thermosphere. The considerable progress that has been made in this area can be found in a number of recent reviews (England, 2012;Pancheva and Mukhtarov, 2012;Liu, 2016;Yiğit et al, 2016;Sassi et al, 2019;Goncharenko et al, 2021;Ward et al, 2021). The increased recognition of the lower atmosphere effects on the ionosphere-thermosphere served as an important motivator for the development of whole atmosphere models, herein considered to be those that seamlessly span altitudes from the surface to the upper thermosphere ( ~500 km).…”

The Great Aurora of 4 February 1872 observed by Angelo Secchi in Rome

“…Lilensten and Belehaki, 2009) we typically refer to that class of processes and physical conditions of the Sun, produced by its magnetic activity, which generate: flares, solar wind variations, especially in connection with streamers of fast and slow wind, Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs), variable flux of charged solar energetic particles (SEPs) and which impact the physical state of the Earth's magnetosphere, ionosphere and thermosphere (e.g. Alberti et al, 2018;Spogli et al, 2019;Bigazzi et al, 2020;Ward et al, 2021) or of the whole planetary system (e.g. Plainaki et al, 2016).…”