Response of GOLD Retrieved Thermospheric Temperatures to Geomagnetic Activities of Varying Magnitudes

Abstract

Global-scale Observations of Limb and Disk (GOLD) disk measurements of far ultraviolet molecular nitrogen band emissions are used to retrieve temperatures ((Formula presented.)), which are representative of lower thermospheric altitudes. The present investigation studies the response of lower thermospheric temperatures to geomagnetic activities of varying magnitudes. In this study, it has been observed that (Formula presented.) increases over all latitudes in response to enhanced geomagnetic activity. The increase in temperature is proportional to the strength of the geomagnetic activity and is greater at higher latitudes. Temperature enhancements vary from 10s to 100s of Kelvins from low- to mid-latitudes. Local time behavior shows that pre-noon enhancements in temperatures, during relatively stronger geomagnetic activities, are greater compared to afternoon, which may be caused by the combined action of daytime dynamics and geomagnetic forcing. This study, thus, demonstrates the utility of GOLD (Formula presented.) when investigating the effects of dynamical and external forcings in the thermosphere.