SA037-01
Low and Mid-latitude Ionosphere-Thermosphere Response to the April 2020 Storm

Wednesday, 16 December 2020: 08:30
Virtual
Geoff Crowley1, Roderick A Heelis2, Robert Meier3, Brian Joseph Harding4, Scott England5, Thomas J Immel6, Christoph R Englert7, Michael H Stevens7, Stephen B Mende8, Russell Stoneback9, Astrid I Maute10, Martin M Sirk11, Eric Korpela12 and ICON Team, (1)Atmospheric and Space Technology Research Associates, LLC, Boulder, CO, United States, (2)University Texas Dallas, Richardson, TX, United States, (3)George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, United States, (4)University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, United States, (5)Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Aerospace and Ocean Engineering, Virginia, VA, United States, (6)Univ of California, Berkeley, CA, United States, (7)Naval Research Lab DC, Space Science Division, Washington, DC, United States, (8)Univ California, Berkeley, CA, United States, (9)University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, United States, (10)NCAR/HAO, Boulder, CO, United States, (11)University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, United States, (12)University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, United States
Recorded Presentation
Abstract:
Solar minimum has historically been considered a time when the ionosphere and thermosphere are quiescent, with geomagnetic activity generally being less than during other parts of the solar cycle. However, the April 2020 storm, in which the Dst index reached a value of about -50 nT, produced a surprisingly large ionospheric and thermospheric response that was measured by various instruments. The ICON mission is focused on the middle and low latitudes, and provides measurements of thermospheric wind, temperature and composition, as well as the electron density and electric field. We describe the ICON data obtained during the April 2020 storm, and compare the measured response with that simulated by a global full-physics coupled thermosphere-ionosphere model. The global ionosphere is a driven system, beginning with the high latitudes and therefore those high latitude processes and their effects must be taken into account when trying to understand the global ionospheric variability. This is true for both geomagnetically quiet and active conditions. We explore possible explanations for the unexpectedly large ionosphere-thermosphere response during the April 2020 storm.
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