Solar EUV Radiation Research Articles

Ionospheric Response to Solar EUV Radiation Variations Using GOLD Observations and the CTIPe Model

AbstractTo understand the global response of thermospheric‐ionospheric (TI) parameters to variations in solar irradiance measurements from the Global‐Scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) ultraviolet imaging spectrograph, solar radio flux F10.7, predictions from the Coupled Thermosphere Ionosphere Plasmasphere electrodynamics (CTIPe) model, and International Global Navigation Satellite System Service total electron content maps (TEC) have been used. Various parameters such as GOLD O/N2, O2, and the nighttime peak electron density (Nmax) have been compared with the CTIPe model simulations. The GOLD observed Nmax shows a number of significant features including a winter anomaly and an equatorial ionization anomaly. The comparison with solar proxies showed that the GOLD QEUV correlates very well with the EUV observations compared to the F10.7 index. The study also examined the relationship between the solar proxies and Nmax on different time scales and found that Nmax responded significantly to QEUV at both medium‐ and long‐term timescales. Furthermore, a low correlation between Nmax in the equatorial region and solar proxies was found. A delayed ionospheric TEC response against solar flux variations within the 27‐day solar rotation was investigated. This ionospheric delay of TEC with respect to solar flux was observed to be less than 1 day, which was reproduced in model simulations. The current study has shown that the GOLD observations can be used to investigate the delayed ionospheric response and to gain a better understanding of the influence of solar activity on the TI system.

Study on the Method of Extracting Plasma Lines Based on Sanya Incoherent Scatter Radar

The plasma lines observed by Sanya incoherent scatter radar (SYISR) are dependent on the enhancement of Langmuir waves due to superthermal photoelectrons generated by solar EUV radiation. The plasma line power spectrum can be obtained using long-pulse and alternating-code transmission signals during the period from sunrise to noon almost every day. For the power spectrum of the long pulse, the CLEAN algorithm that has been applied in this field is used to verify the feasibility of this method for SYISR in only a few cases. However, it is difficult to deal with alternating code with such a low SNR using the general deconvolution method. The irreversible-migration filtering (IMF) method has been developed to separate signal noise from the measurements of the alternating code. Some experimental results from the SYISR measurements validate the excellent performance of the IMF method for alternating code. Additionally, an example observation of the electron density with a high time and range resolution is derived. The results show that plasma line detection can be a powerful new observational capability for SYISR as an ionospheric experimental mode for ionospheric calibration, when possible, which can be simultaneously measured with the ion line for constant radar calibration in the standard fitting of the ion line.

An Empirical Orthogonal Function Study of the Ionospheric TEC Predicted Using the TIEGCM Model over the South Atlantic Anomaly in 2002 and 2008

In this study, the variability of the ionospheric total electron content (TEC) in the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA) in the solar maximum of 2002 and the solar minimum of 2008 were compared by using an empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis. The ionospheric TEC data were simulated using the National Center for Atmospheric Research Thermosphere-Ionosphere-Electrodynamics General Circulation Model (TIEGCM). The first three EOFs accounted for 94.8% and 93.86% of the variability in the data in 2002 and 2008, respectively. The results showed that the TEC variations of the first three EOFs were generally consistent in 2002 and 2008. The first mode showed the equatorial anomaly caused by plasma drift and the east–west asymmetry possibly caused by the change in geomagnetic declination and zonal wind; EOF2 exhibited the zonal variation influenced by the solar EUV radiation and the semiannual variation possibly controlled by the [O/N2], solar zenith angle, and atmospheric circulation. EOF3 suggested an equatorial anomaly and winter anomaly influenced by the [O/N2] variation. However, the values and amplitude variations in the TEC were significantly greater in the solar maximum than that in the solar minimum, and the spring–autumn asymmetry of the TEC was more obvious in the solar minimum. In addition, we used the EOF method to extract the annual variation characteristics of the time coefficients and carried out a correlation analysis. The results showed that the annual variation in the TEC in 2002 was mainly affected by the solar EUV radiation, which was strongly correlated with F10.7 (r = 0.7348). In contrast, the TEC was mainly influenced by the geomagnetic activity in 2008 and had a strong correlation with Dst (r = −0.7898).

Comparative analysis of extreme ultraviolet solar radiation proxies during minimum activity levels

Comparative analysis of extreme ultraviolet solar radiation proxies during minimum activity levels

Influence of the solar wind high-speed streams on the thermospheric neutral density during the declining phase of solar cycle 23

Thermospheric neutral density derived from the GRACE A satellite and normalized at altitude of 490 km (ρ) are used to investigate the ρ behavior during the period of recurrent geomagnetic activity (25 January - 5 May, 2005) caused by solar wind high-speed streams (HSSs). The north and south hemispheric ρ values divided in three latitudinal bins are analyzed separately at dayside and nightside. The variations, not caused by solar/geomagnetic activity, are investigated accounting for the relationship between solar flux index, illumination, latitude and DOY for particular magnetic local times (MLTs). Analysis has shown that: ρ increases/decreases from high to low latitudes at dayside/nightside; ρ increases from high to low latitudes at dayside caused by solar EUV radiation is most prominent around MLT = 14 and decrease rapidly with departure from this MLT; the difference between north and south hemispheric ρ values are not the same prior and after the equinox; quiet time ρ differs among latitudinal bins; ρ contains a clear imprint of solar/geomagnetic activity. The cross-correlation analysis reveals a high degree of correlation between ρ and different employed ρ indicators. Time lags based on all ρ indicators suggest that ρ disturbance: occurs about 4 h earlier at high than at lower latitudes and propagates presumably without losses toward equatorial region both at dayside and nightside; propagates faster between polar and mid latitudes at dayside and between mid and low latitudes at nightside. This study provides the most probable characteristics of the ρ variations during the periods in which magnetospheric-thermospheric system is affected primarily by HSSs.

Auroral Ionosphere Model with PC Index as an Input

Auroral Ionosphere Model (AIM-E) is designed to calculate chemical content in the high-latitude E region ionosphere and takes into account both the solar EUV radiation and the electron precipitation of magnetospheric origin. The latter is extremely important for auroral ionosphere chemistry especially in disturbed conditions. In order to maximize the AIM-E timing accuracy when simulating highly variable periods in the course of geomagnetic storms and substorms, we suggest to parameterize the OVATION-Prime empirical precipitation model with the ground-based Polar Cap (PC) index. This gives an advantage to: (1) perform ionospheric simulation with actual input, since PC index reflects the geoeffective solar wind conditions; (2) promptly assess the current geomagnetic situation, since PC index is available in real-time with 1 min resolution. The simulation results of AIM-E with OVATION-Prime (PC) demonstrate a good agreement with the ground-based incoherent scatter radar data (EISCAT UHF, Tromso) and with the vertical sounding data in the Arctic zone during events of intense particle precipitation. The model reproduces well the electron content calculated in vertical column (90–140 km) and critical frequency of sporadic E layer (fOEs) formed by precipitating electrons. The AIM-E (PC) model can be applied to monitor the sporadic E layer in real-time and in the entire high-latitude ionosphere, including the auroral and subauroral zones, which is important for predicting the conditions of radio wave propagation.

Predicting the Daily 10.7-cm Solar Radio Flux Using the Long Short-Term Memory Method

As an important index of solar activity, the 10.7-cm solar radio flux (F10.7) can indicate changes in the solar EUV radiation, which plays an important role in the relationship between the Sun and the Earth. Therefore, it is valuable to study and forecast F10.7. In this study, the long short-term memory (LSTM) method in machine learning is used to predict the daily value of F10.7. The F10.7 series from 1947 to 2019 are used. Among them, the data during 1947–1995 are adopted as the training dataset, and the data during 1996–2019 (solar cycles 23 and 24) are adopted as the test dataset. The fourfold cross validation method is used to group the training set for multiple validations. We find that the root mean square error (RMSE) of the prediction results is only 6.20~6.35 sfu, and the correlation coefficient (R) is as high as 0.9883~0.9889. The overall prediction accuracy of the LSTM method is equivalent to those of the widely used autoregressive (AR) and backpropagation neural network (BP) models. Especially for 2-day and 3-day forecasts, the LSTM model is slightly better. All this demonstrates the potentiality of the LSTM method in the real-time forecasting of F10.7 in future.

Solar wind charge exchange in cometary atmospheres

Solar wind charge-changing reactions are of paramount importance to the physico-chemistry of the atmosphere of a comet. The ESA/Rosetta mission to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (67P) provides a unique opportunity to study charge-changing processes in situ. To understand the role of these reactions in the evolution of the solar wind plasma, and interpret the complex in-situ measurements made by Rosetta, numerical or analytical models are necessary. We use an extended analytical formalism describing solar wind charge-changing processes at comets along solar wind streamlines. The model is driven by solar wind ion measurements from the Rosetta Plasma Consortium-Ion Composition Analyzer (RPC-ICA) and neutral density observations from the Rosetta Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis-Comet Pressure Sensor (ROSINA-COPS), as well as charge-changing cross sections of hydrogen and helium particles in a water gas. A mission-wide overview of charge-changing efficiencies at comet 67P is presented. Electron capture cross sections dominate and favor the production of He and H energetic neutral atoms, with fluxes expected to rival those of H+ and He2+ ions. Neutral outgassing rates are retrieved from local RPC-ICA flux measurements, and match ROSINA's estimates very well. From the model, we find that solar wind charge exchange is unable to fully explain the magnitude of the sharp drop of solar wind ion fluxes observed by Rosetta for heliocentric distances below 2.5 AU. This is likely because the model does not take into account the relative ion dynamics and, to a lesser extent, ignore the formation of bow shock-like structures upstream of the nucleus. This work also shows that the ionization by solar EUV radiation and energetic electrons dominates the source of cometary ions, although solar wind contributions may be significant during isolated events.

Global Energetics of Solar Flares and Coronal Mass Ejections

We investigate the global energetics and energy closure of various physical processes that are energetically important in solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs), which includes: magnetic energies, thermal energies, nonthermal energies (particle acceleration), direct and indirect plasma heating processes, kinetic CME energies, gravitational CME energies, aerodynamic drag of CMEs, solar energetic particle events, EUV and soft X-ray radiation, white-light, and bolometric energies. Statistics on these forms of energies is obtained from 400 GOES M- and X-class events during the first 3.5 years of the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) mission. A primary test addressed in this study is the closure of the various energies, such as the equivalence of the dissipated magnetic energies and the primary dissipated are energies (accelerated particles, direct heating, CME acceleration), which faciliate the energy of secondary processes (plasma heating, shock acceleration) and interactions with the solar wind (aerodynamic drag). Our study demonstrates energy closure in the statistical average, while individual events may have considerable uncertainties, requiring improved nonlinear force-free field models, and particle acceleration models with observationally constrained low-energy cutoffs.

A photochemical model of Pluto's atmosphere and ionosphere

The model for Titan by Krasnopolsky (2014, Icarus 236, 83-91) has been adjusted to Pluto's conditions during the New Horizons flyby. The model includes 419 reactions of 83 neutrals and 33 positive ions plus 10 reactions of CO+ and HCO+ that were missing for Titan because of the low CO abundance. The model has 289 altitude steps up to the exobase at 1600 km with thermal escape for neutrals and diffusion velocities for ions as the upper boundary conditions. The model involves condensation on the haze and the surface with sticking coefficient γ = 0.002 for hydrocarbons, H2O, and CO2, γ = 0.01 for nitriles except HC3N with γ = 0.1. The photochemistry is driven by the solar EUV and UV radiation, the interplanetary Lyman-alpha emission, and the galactic cosmic rays. The adopted eddy diffusion K = 3 × 104 cm2 s−1 facilitates transport of C2H4 and C2H6, their condensation on the surface, and does not require the revision of the laboratory data on saturated vapor densities of C2H4 and C2H6 by orders of magnitude to fit the New Horizons observations. The CH4 homopause is at 110 km for this K, and the CH4 vertical profile is mostly controlled by molecular diffusion and agrees with the NH observations. Productions and losses of major hydrocarbons, nitriles, oxygen species, and hydrogen are briefly discussed. The daytime ionosphere is predicted with a maximum electron density of 800 cm−3 at 750 km. The most abundant ions are HCNH+ and C9H11+ above and below 600 km, respectively. Chemical effects of the ion reactions on some neutral species are significant. The predicted ion densities are measurable by an analog of the Cassini ion-neutral mass spectrometer. Evolution of the atmosphere includes thermal escape of H2 + H, CH4 + CH3, and N2 + N (92, 203, and 1 g cm−2 Byr−1, respectively), condensation of hydrocarbons and nitriles (306 and 101 g cm−2 Byr−1, respectively), and polymerization (30 g cm−2 Byr−1). (Annually mean values are halves of those.) The composition and photochemistry of Pluto during the New Horizons flyby are very different from those of Triton during the Voyager 2 flyby and controlled by the methane mole fraction near the surface. Seasonal variations of the atmospheric methane should cover both states of the atmospheres on both Pluto and Triton.

Global Variations in Critical Frequency of the F2 Layer in Various Models of Solar EUV Radiation

The paper presents the results of modeling ionospheric parameters using the Global Self-Consistent Model of the Thermosphere, Ionosphere, and Protonosphere (GSM TIP) of the Earth. Numerical experiments have been performed for three variants of the solar EUV spectrum data: the Nusinov model, EUVAC, and generalized solar flux measurements (SOLID). The calculations have been carried out on March 22, 2009 (F10.7 ~ 68) and March 22, 2014 (F10.7 ~ 154). The maximum ionization rate and, correspondingly, the critical frequency of the F2 layer have been obtained using the Nusinov model for low and high solar activities. The lowest ionization rates and values of foF2 have been obtained using the EUVAC model. Simulations with the SOLID spectrum show the better agreement of foF2 with the empirical model IRI-2007 at the maximum solar activity. At the same time, at the minimum solar activity, all models of the spectrum provide an underestimation of the values of the critical frequency of the F2 layer.

Topside Ionospheric Electron Temperature Observations of the 21 August 2017 Eclipse by DMSP Spacecraft

AbstractDuring the 21 August 2017 eclipse two separate DMSP spacecraft passed through the lunar penumbra at local afternoon (F16) and near local sunset (F17) in the topside ionosphere at an altitude of ~850 km. Measurements of the in situ electron temperature by the Langmuir probe on each spacecraft showed regions where the temperature decreased on the order of 500 to 1,000 K in the shadow. The patterns of these decreases were sporadic inside the shadow but generally showed the same overall shape in both passes. Comparing these patterns of temperature reductions with the projection of the gradient of the solar EUV radiation in the ionosphere suggests that these complex patterns are a result of the nonuniform distribution of the solar EUV radiation on the Sun at the time of the eclipse.

Contribution of solar radiation and geomagnetic activity to global structure of 27-day variation of ionosphere

Twenty-seven-day variation caused by solar rotation is one of the main periodic effects of solar radiation influence on the ionosphere, and there have been many studies on this periodicity using peak electron density \(\mathrm{N_{m}F_{2}}\) and solar radio flux index F10.7. In this paper, the global electron content (GEC) and observation of Solar EUV Monitor (SEM) represent the whole ionosphere and solar EUV flux, respectively, to investigate the 27-day variation. The 27-day period components of indices \((\hbox {GEC}_{27}\), \(\hbox {SEM}_{27}\), \(\hbox {F10.7}_{27}\), \(\hbox {Ap}_{27})\) are obtained using Chebyshev band-pass filter. The comparison of regression results indicates that the index SEM has higher coherence than F10.7 with 27-day variation of the ionosphere. The regression coefficients of \(\hbox {SEM}_{27 }\) varied from 0.6 to 1.4 and the coefficients of \(\hbox {Ap}_{27}\) varied from \({-}\)0.6 to 0.3, which suggests that EUV radiation seasonal variations are the primary driver for the 27-day variations of the ionosphere for most periods. TEC map grid points on three meridians where IGS stations are dense are selected for regression, and the results show that the contribution of solar EUV radiation is positive at all geomagnetic latitudes and larger than geomagnetic activity in most latitudes. The contribution of geomagnetic activity is negative at high geomagnetic latitude, increasing with decreasing geomagnetic latitudes, and positive at low geomagnetic latitudes. The global structure of 27-day variation of ionosphere is presented and demonstrates that there are two zonal anomaly regions along with the geomagnetic latitudes lines and two peaks in the north of Southeast Asia and the Middle Pacific where \(\hbox {TEC}_{27}\) magnitude values are notably larger than elsewhere along zonal anomaly regions.

EUV data processing methods of the Solar Auto-Calibrating EUV Spectrometers (SolACES) aboard the International Space Station

ContextSince 2008, the Solar Auto-Calibrating EUV Spectrometer (SolACES) experiment monitors the solar EUV radiation. SolACES is part of the SOLAR mission, a device mounted on the COLUMBUS module on the International Space Station (ISS). The SolACES device is capable of measuring the EUV radiation of the full solar disk, with three grazing incidence spectrometers, covering the spectral range from 17 to 135nm. IssueDegradation and ageing effects of hardware components are a major issue in the field of EUV measurements. In addition, propellant pollution from ISS logistic vehicles strongly complicate the instrumental operation as well as the data evaluation. To correct these effects, two double ionization chambers have been mounted onto the device frame. These are considered as a primary radiometric detector standard. By refilling the ionization chambers, the absolute EUV flux can be measured. Efficiency changes, being a severe issue in the field of measurements of EUV radiation, can corrected via an in-situ auto-calibration. The use of this method requires a thorough understanding of electron multiplier degradation and processes inside an ionization chamber. AimsThe main focus of this paper lies on the correction of hardware ageing effects in the spectrometer readout, as well as on the usage of ionization chamber measurements for absolute calibration. Additionally, we intend to demonstrate the long term stability of the in-orbit calibration principle of EUV spectrometers with double ionization chambers. MethodsIn this paper, we first briefly present the instrument and its components. Second, we list, explain, and correct various degradation effects within the spectrometer units. The core part are the adjustments between spectrometer and ionization chamber data, for calibration purposes. Results and perspectivesThe proof of concept of the in-orbit calibration, via ionization chambers, is given, by intercomparison of EUV data from SolACES with other experiments, over almost one decade. The presented data can be used for further investigations in climate modelling, as well as contribute to a SSI composite.

Ionospheric TEC disturbance study over seismically region in China

Using data of Crustal Movement Observation Network of China (CMONOC) and IGS (International GNSS Service), we attempt to give a statistical behavior of the total electron content (TEC) perturbation before 30Mw6.0+ earthquakes from 2000 to 2010 in China. Results show that TEC anomalies are detected before 20 earthquakes, nearly 67%. The anomalies represent positive before most events and occur mostly within 2–6days before the shocks, significantly during the afternoon period, 12–20LT. To verify the reliability of the anomalous behavior of TEC detected in the statistical study, we analyze variations of TEC over two regions during a period of low solar and geomagnetic activity in April-October 2008. In southwest China, during that time, six large earthquakes with magnitude M≧6.0 occurred. And a ‘check-region’ with same geomagnetic latitudes as the epicentral area is selected. Known that the decisive role in the ionosphere state is performed by space weather effects, we compare the TEC variations with time series of EUV solar radiation, Bz component of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF), index of geomagnetic activity Dst and planetary index Kp, respectively. It is found that, both in the two regions, the observed anomalies in the regional TEC are in good correlation with the variations of above index. We detect different levels of TEC anomalies before the 6 earthquakes, and most of them are amost certainly dominated by space weather expect for Wenchuan case. The work illustrates the difficulties of searching precursors of earthquake in the ionosphere, but also, it reminds the importance for considering the effect of atmospheric waves on the ionosphere as well as the applicability of statistical approach.

Ion energy distributions and densities in the plume of Enceladus

Enceladus has a dynamic plume that is emitting gas, including water vapor, and dust. The gas is ionized by solar EUV radiation, charge exchange, and electron impact and extends throughout the inner magnetosphere of Saturn. The charge exchange collisions alter the plasma composition. Ice grains (dust) escape from the vicinity of Enceladus and form the E ring, including a portion that is negatively charged by the local plasma. The inner magnetosphere within 10RS (Saturn radii) contains a complex mixture of plasma, neutral gas, and dust that links back to Enceladus. In this paper we investigate the energy distributions, ion species and densities of water group ions in the plume of Enceladus using test particle and Monte Carlo methods that include collisional processes such as charge exchange and ion-neutral chemical reactions. Ion observations from the Cassini Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer (INMS) for E07 are presented for the first time. We use the modeling results to interpret observations made by the Cassini Plasma Spectrometer (CAPS) and the INMS. The low energy ions, as observed by CAPS, appear to be affected by a vertical electric field (EZ=−10µV/m) in the plume. The EZ field may be associated with the charged dust and/or the pressure gradient of plasma. The model results, along with the results of earlier models, show that H3O+ ions created by chemistry are predominant in the plume, which agrees with INMS and CAPS data, but the INMS count rate in the plume for the model is several times greater than the data, which we do not fully understand. This composition and the total ion count found in the plume agree with INMS and CAPS data. On the other hand, the Cassini Langmuir Probe measured a maximum plume ion density more than 30,000cm−3, which is far larger than the maximum ion density from our model, 900cm−3. The model results also demonstrate that most of the ions in the plume are from the external magnetospheric flow and are not generated by local ionization. The origin of the ions in the plume was investigated using two different velocity models. Most ions were created by the interaction with background magnetospheric plasma and by photoionization. INMS and CAPS also detected water cluster ions. We will interpret these observations as a result of ion collisions with neutral water clusters, (H2O)n, originating in the tiger stripe vents as suggested by Tokar et al. (2009). We also estimated the process of generating cluster ions based on the INMS observations. We suggest that the most likely source is reaction of H3O+ with neutral water clusters or dimers such as (H2O)2 formed in the plume vents.

On the inclusion of data from solar cycle 19 to estimate F2 layer characteristic long term trends

<p>The effect of including solar cycle 19 (1954-1964) in ionospheric trend estimation is assessed using experimental foF2 values. The dominant influence on the F2 layer is solar EUV radiation. In fact, around 90% of inter-annual variance of ionospheric parameters, such as foF2, is explained by solar EUV proxies such as the sunspot number, Rz, and solar radio flux at 10.7 cm, F10.7. This makes necessary to filter out solar activity effects prior to long term trends estimation, which is reduced at most to the remaining 10% variance. In general solar activity is filtered assessing the residuals of a linear regression between foF2 and Rz, or between foF2 and F10.7. Solar cycle 19 is a strong cycle during which Rz and F10.7 exceeded the values beyond which the ionosphere does not respond linearly to a further increase in EUV radiation. This effect, called saturation, implies a break down of the linearity between foF2 and EUV, and results in persistent negative residuals during this period. Since solar cycle 19 is at the beginning of the time series, trends result to be positive, or less negative, than trends without considering this period. In this case the filtering process is generating a “spurious” trend in the filtered data series which may lead to erroneous conclusions. hmF2 that do not present a saturation effect is also analyzed.</p><div> </div>

Influence of local ionization on ionospheric densities in Titan's upper atmosphere

AbstractTitan has the most chemically complex ionosphere of the solar system. The main sources of ions on the dayside are ionization by EUV solar radiation and on the nightside include ionization by precipitated electrons from Saturn's magnetosphere and transport of ions from the dayside, but many questions remain open. How well do models predict local ionization rates? How strongly do the ionization processes drive the ionospheric densities locally? To address these questions, we have carried out an analysis of ion densities from the Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer (INMS) from 16 close flybys of Titan's upper atmosphere. Using a simple chemical model applied to the INMS data set, we have calculated the ion production rates and local ionization frequencies associated with primary ions and . We find that on the dayside the solar energy deposition model overestimates the INMS‐derived production rates by a factor of 2. On the nightside, however, the model driven by suprathermal electron intensities from the Cassini Plasma Spectrometer Electron Spectrometer sometimes agrees and other times underestimates the INMS‐derived production rates by a factor of up to 2–3. We find that below 1200 km, all ion number densities correlate with the local ionization frequency, although the correlation is significantly stronger for short‐lived ions than long‐lived ions. Furthermore, we find that, for a given N2 local ionization frequency, has higher densities on the dayside than on the nightside. We explain that this is due to CH4 being more efficiently ionized by solar photons than by magnetospheric electrons for a given amount of N2 ionization.

Characteristics and mechanisms of the annual asymmetry of thermospheric mass density

In this paper, globally-averaged, thermospheric total mass density, derived from the orbits of ∼5000 objects at 250, 400, and 550 km that were tracked from 1967 to 2006, has been used to quantitatively study the annual asymmetry of thermospheric mass density and its mechanism(s). The results show that thermospheric mass density had a significant annual asymmetry, which changed from year to year. The annual asymmetry at the three altitudes varied synchronously and its absolute value increased with altitudes. The results suggest that there is an annual asymmetry in solar EUV radiation that is caused by the difference in the Sun-Earth distance between the two solstices and the random variation of solar activity within a year. This change in radiation results in an annual change in the thermospheric temperature and thus the scale height of the neutral gas, and is the main cause of the annual asymmetry of thermospheric mass density. The annual asymmetry of mass density increases with altitude because of the accumulating effect of the changes in neutral temperature and scale height in the vertical direction.

IMF control of the location of Venusian bow shock: The effect of the magnitude of IMF component tangential to the bow shock surface

AbstractThe interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) frozen in the solar wind, together with the solar EUV radiation, can significantly affect the location of Venusian bow shock. To recognize the IMF effect on the Venusian bow shock, we investigated 1680 bow shock crossings recorded by Venus Express during the unusually long‐lasting solar minimum (May 2006 to December 2010), of which the effect of solar EUV variation was significantly decreased. Our analysis shows that during the unusually long‐lasting solar minimum, the effect of the solar EUV flux on the Venusian bow shock location is negligible. Neither solar wind dynamic pressure nor solar wind velocity has observable effect on the Venusian bow shock location. However, the IMF magnitude has a strong control of the Venusian bow shock location. We found that the size of Venusian bow shock linearly increases with the magnitude of the IMF component tangential to the bow shock surface, and this relationship can account for the perpendicular‐parallel asymmetry and magnetic pole‐equator asymmetry found in previous researches, as well as the magnetic dawn‐dusk asymmetry discerned in this study.