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Data · dataset · 2026

First results from the ionospheric extension of WACCM-X during the deep solar minimum year of 2008

Listed in National Center for Atmospheric Research

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.

Description

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.

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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 (NmF(2) and hmF(2)) 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 NmF(2) 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.

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National Center for Atmospheric Researcha439f053-7b05-4d17-a36c-66da388cbdb310 d agoJSON v1
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concepts[method].local:method:climate-modelenrichment · data ucar edukeyword-concept-rules@1.0.0title+description (65%)
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descriptionsource · data ucar educonnector:data_ucar_edu@1.0.0/notes
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updated_datesource · data ucar educonnector:data_ucar_edu@1.0.0