Intercalibration of neutral density measurements for mapping the thermosphere

Abstract

This paper describes a technique for mapping exospheric temperatures, derived from neutral density measurements from the Challenging Mini-satellite Payload (CHAMP) and Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites. The Naval Reasearch Laboratory Mass Spectrometer, Incoherent Scatter Radar Extended Model (NRLMSISE-00) thermosphere model is used for the conversion. Adjustments for each satellite were needed in order for the time-averaged densities to agree with the model. It was necessary to correct for inexact modeling of the annual and semiannual oscillations in the density, as well as the declining densities during the solar minimum. It was found that a time-varying perturbation in the atomic oxygen in the model could produce a good agreement at both altitudes. The time series of this oxygen variation was found to have a very high correlation with independent measurements of CO2 emissions measured with the Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) instrument. The temperature data are averaged on a spherical grid having equal areas in each pixel, avoiding functional fits that would blur finer details. The use of solar magnetic rather than geographic coordinates enhances the auroral ovals. There are strong elevations in the exospheric temperatures in the polar regions, particularly near the dayside cusp. Spatial filtering with spherical wavelets is used to remove statistical fluctuations, although some details are lost. The exospheric temperature maps are well ordered by the nitric oxide emission measurements from SABER. The technique that is described here could be applied to future improvements of empirical density models, having an accuracy and spatial resolution that is not presently available.