Simulations of solar and lunar tidal variability in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere during sudden stratosphere warmings and their influence on the low-latitude ionosphere

Changes in nonmigrating solar tides are, on average, generally small and the only nonmigrating tides that exhibit changes greater than 20% are the diurnal tide with zonal wave number 0 (D0) and the westward propagating semidiurnal tide with zonal wave number 1 (SW1). D0 is decreased by ~20-30% at low latitudes, while SW1 exhibits a similar magnitude enhancement at mid to high latitudes in both hemispheres. The tidal changes are attributed to a combination of changes in the zonal mean zonal winds, changes in ozone forcing of the SW2, and nonlinear planetary wave-tide interactions.

We further investigate the influence of the lunar tide enhancements on generating perturbations in the low latitude ionosphere during SSWs by using the WACCM-X thermosphere to drive an ionosphere-electrodynamics model. For both solar maximum and solar minimum simulations, the changes in the equatorial vertical plasma drift velocity are similar to observations when the lunar tide is included in the simulations. However, when the lunar tide is removed from the simulations, the low latitude ionosphere response to SSWs is unclear and the characteristic behavior of the low latitude ionosphere perturbations that is seen in observations is no longer apparent.

Our results thus indicate the importance of variability in the lunar tide during SSWs, especially for the coupling between SSWs and perturbations in the low latitude ionosphere.