Impacts of Energetic Electron Precipitation on the Middle Atmosphere

Energetic particle precipitation (EPP) can have profound impacts on the middle atmosphere. NOx produced by EPP in the thermosphere and mesosphere can descend into the stratosphere during polar night; after being sequestered by the polar vortex until spring, NOx can destroy stratospheric O3 (>25 k...

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Main Author: Peck, Ethan D.
Format: Text
Language:unknown
Published: CU Scholar 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:https://scholar.colorado.edu/atoc_gradetds/47
https://scholar.colorado.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1049&context=atoc_gradetds
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record_format openpolar
spelling ftunicolboulder:oai:scholar.colorado.edu:atoc_gradetds-1049 2023-05-15T13:36:09+02:00 Impacts of Energetic Electron Precipitation on the Middle Atmosphere Peck, Ethan D. 2014-01-01T08:00:00Z application/pdf https://scholar.colorado.edu/atoc_gradetds/47 https://scholar.colorado.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1049&context=atoc_gradetds unknown CU Scholar https://scholar.colorado.edu/atoc_gradetds/47 https://scholar.colorado.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1049&context=atoc_gradetds Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences Graduate Theses & Dissertations Community Earth System Model (CESM) Energetic Particle Precipitation (EPP) Medium Energy Electrons (MEE) Medium Energy Proton/Electron Detector (MEPED) Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM) Atmospheric Sciences text 2014 ftunicolboulder 2018-10-07T08:54:53Z Energetic particle precipitation (EPP) can have profound impacts on the middle atmosphere. NOx produced by EPP in the thermosphere and mesosphere can descend into the stratosphere during polar night; after being sequestered by the polar vortex until spring, NOx can destroy stratospheric O3 (>25 km) in a catalytic cycle. Changes to O3 can change local temperatures and in turn zonal wind through thermal wind balance. This work seeks to understand the impacts of medium energy electrons (MEE) (25 keV – 2 MeV), a subset of EPP, on the middle atmosphere. Data from the Medium Energy Proton/Electron Detector (MEPED) is assimilated into the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM). This is accomplished in three steps: (1) examine the response of WACCM to solar cycle; (2) improve and prepare MEPED data for use in WACCM; and (3) simulate MEE precipitation in WACCM. WACCM is able to simulate solar cycle impacts in general agreement with observations and reanalysis. Auroral EPP (<30 >keV) produced NOx is found to destroy >10% more O3 in solar maximum simulations than solar minimum simulations. Temperature and zonal wind results match reanalysis in the northern hemisphere (NH), but not in the southern hemisphere (SH). Disagreements are likely caused by the Antarctic "cold-pole problem." This work removes proton contamination from MEPED electron channels and outputs spectral count flux for protons and electrons by using an inversion technique with a combination of best fit spectra. Results are in agreement with the Detection of Electro-Magnetic Emissions Transmitted from Earthquake Regions (DEMETER) Instrument for Detecting Particles (IDP). MEE spectral flux is converted into precipitating flux and assimilated into specified dynamics WACCM (SD-WACCM). Production by MEE is large (>100 ppbv at 80 km). MEE NOx production is too high below 80 km, and too low above 80 km. SD-WACCM is also found to have too strong winter polar descent. MEE precipitation is believed to be capable of producing NOx to match observations, but production at the wrong altitudes and incorrect descent prevent further analysis into impacts on the middle atmosphere. Text Antarc* Antarctic polar night University of Colorado, Boulder: CU Scholar Antarctic The Antarctic
institution Open Polar
collection University of Colorado, Boulder: CU Scholar
op_collection_id ftunicolboulder
language unknown
topic Community Earth System Model (CESM)
Energetic Particle Precipitation (EPP)
Medium Energy Electrons (MEE)
Medium Energy Proton/Electron Detector (MEPED)
Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM)
Atmospheric Sciences
spellingShingle Community Earth System Model (CESM)
Energetic Particle Precipitation (EPP)
Medium Energy Electrons (MEE)
Medium Energy Proton/Electron Detector (MEPED)
Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM)
Atmospheric Sciences
Peck, Ethan D.
Impacts of Energetic Electron Precipitation on the Middle Atmosphere
topic_facet Community Earth System Model (CESM)
Energetic Particle Precipitation (EPP)
Medium Energy Electrons (MEE)
Medium Energy Proton/Electron Detector (MEPED)
Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM)
Atmospheric Sciences
description Energetic particle precipitation (EPP) can have profound impacts on the middle atmosphere. NOx produced by EPP in the thermosphere and mesosphere can descend into the stratosphere during polar night; after being sequestered by the polar vortex until spring, NOx can destroy stratospheric O3 (>25 km) in a catalytic cycle. Changes to O3 can change local temperatures and in turn zonal wind through thermal wind balance. This work seeks to understand the impacts of medium energy electrons (MEE) (25 keV – 2 MeV), a subset of EPP, on the middle atmosphere. Data from the Medium Energy Proton/Electron Detector (MEPED) is assimilated into the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM). This is accomplished in three steps: (1) examine the response of WACCM to solar cycle; (2) improve and prepare MEPED data for use in WACCM; and (3) simulate MEE precipitation in WACCM. WACCM is able to simulate solar cycle impacts in general agreement with observations and reanalysis. Auroral EPP (<30 >keV) produced NOx is found to destroy >10% more O3 in solar maximum simulations than solar minimum simulations. Temperature and zonal wind results match reanalysis in the northern hemisphere (NH), but not in the southern hemisphere (SH). Disagreements are likely caused by the Antarctic "cold-pole problem." This work removes proton contamination from MEPED electron channels and outputs spectral count flux for protons and electrons by using an inversion technique with a combination of best fit spectra. Results are in agreement with the Detection of Electro-Magnetic Emissions Transmitted from Earthquake Regions (DEMETER) Instrument for Detecting Particles (IDP). MEE spectral flux is converted into precipitating flux and assimilated into specified dynamics WACCM (SD-WACCM). Production by MEE is large (>100 ppbv at 80 km). MEE NOx production is too high below 80 km, and too low above 80 km. SD-WACCM is also found to have too strong winter polar descent. MEE precipitation is believed to be capable of producing NOx to match observations, but production at the wrong altitudes and incorrect descent prevent further analysis into impacts on the middle atmosphere.
format Text
author Peck, Ethan D.
author_facet Peck, Ethan D.
author_sort Peck, Ethan D.
title Impacts of Energetic Electron Precipitation on the Middle Atmosphere
title_short Impacts of Energetic Electron Precipitation on the Middle Atmosphere
title_full Impacts of Energetic Electron Precipitation on the Middle Atmosphere
title_fullStr Impacts of Energetic Electron Precipitation on the Middle Atmosphere
title_full_unstemmed Impacts of Energetic Electron Precipitation on the Middle Atmosphere
title_sort impacts of energetic electron precipitation on the middle atmosphere
publisher CU Scholar
publishDate 2014
url https://scholar.colorado.edu/atoc_gradetds/47
https://scholar.colorado.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1049&context=atoc_gradetds
geographic Antarctic
The Antarctic
geographic_facet Antarctic
The Antarctic
genre Antarc*
Antarctic
polar night
genre_facet Antarc*
Antarctic
polar night
op_source Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences Graduate Theses & Dissertations
op_relation https://scholar.colorado.edu/atoc_gradetds/47
https://scholar.colorado.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1049&context=atoc_gradetds
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