Collaborative Research: NSWP--Improvement and Real-time Updating of the International Reference Ionosphere with the Contribution of Auroral Electrons

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The project has two main objectives: (1) Improve the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) model by including the contributions from precipitating electrons to the model; this will result in better specification of the auroral E region in the model; and (2) Develop, implement, test, and validate an auroral boundary and/or Kp driven ability for nowcasting and forecasting of the polar E-region ionosphere. The IRI is an empirical model which is one of the most widely used by the upper atmosphere community to simulate the ionosphere for given conditions. However, its representation of the auroral region has been known to be somewhat compromised due to a lack of information on and observations for the polar region. One of the processes not well parameterized is that due to precipitating electrons, one of the major drivers of space weather in the ionosphere and thermosphere. The precipitation not only creates extra ionization in the high latitude ionosphere which leads to absorption and disturbances in radio communication, but also enhances the Joule heating which alters the thermospheric convection and composition. The altered thermospheric convection brings composition changes induced by Joule heating from high latitudes down to middle and low latitudes, even to the opposite hemisphere, and can cause global ionospheric disturbances. The precipitating electrons will be specified in the new IRI model by using a new Kp-dependent global auroral model that was developed with FUV image data obtained by the GUVI instrument on the TIMED satellite. The auroral model provides the global distribution of mean energy and energy flux of precipitating electrons. With these, one can then determine two key auroral E-layer parameters: the peak E-layer density (NmE) and the E layer height (hmE). The new NmE and hmE values will provide the data base for modifying the IRI E-region model to include the contribution from precipitating electrons. The FUV-based global auroral model will also enable better representation of the real time auroral oval conditions by providing information on the boundaries of the auroral oval and the location of the peak electron energy fluxes in different magnetic local time sectors. These will be represented as a statistical model for inclusion in the IRI. The auroral E-layer representation and the auroral boundaries in the improved IRI will be validated with electron density profile data from incoherent scatter radars such as Sondrestrom, EISCAT, and NSF's new Poker Flat Incoherent Scatter Radar, and with precipitating electron data from the DMSP F13-F17 particle detectors.