The influence of Middle Range Energy Electrons on atmospheric chemistry and regional climate ...

• Main Authors: Arsenovic, Pavle, Rozanov, Eugene, Stenke, Andrea, Funke, B., Wissing, J. M., Mursula, K., Tummon, Fiona, Peter, Thomas
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: ETH Zurich 2016
• Subjects: Atmospheric Chemistry; Climate; Mesosphere; Middle Energy Electrons; Ozone; infoeu-repo/classification/ddc/550; infoeu-repo/classification/ddc/520; Earth sciences; Astronomy, cartography; polar night
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000115871; http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/115871

We investigate the influence of Middle Range Energy Electrons (MEE; typically 30-300 keV) precipitation on the atmosphere using the SOCOL3-MPIOM chemistry-climate model with coupled ocean. Model simulations cover the 2002-2010 period for which ionization rates from the AIMOS dataset and atmospheric composition observations from MIPAS are available. Results show that during geomagnetically active periods MEE significantly increase the amount of NOy and HOx in the polar winter mesosphere, in addition to other particles and sources, resulting in local ozone decreases of up to 35%. These changes are followed by an intensification of the polar night jet, as well as mesospheric warming and stratospheric cooling. The contribution of MEE also substantially enhances the difference in the ozone anomalies between geomagnetically active and quiet periods. Comparison with MIPAS NOy observations indicates that the additional source of NOy from MEE improves the model results, however substantial underestimation above 50 km ... : Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics, 146 ...