On the Specification of Upward-Propagating Tides for ICON Science Investigations

• Published in: Space science reviews 2017-10, Vol.212 (1-2), p.697-713
• Main Authors: Forbes, Jeffrey M., Zhang, Xiaoli, Hagan, Maura E., England, Scott L., Liu, Guiping, Gasperini, Federico
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aerospace Technology and Astronautics; Altitude; Astrophysics and Astroparticles; Atmosphere; Atmospheric circulation; Atmospheric research; Atmospheric tides; Basis functions; Boundary conditions; Computer simulation; Diurnal variations; Electrodynamics; General circulation; General circulation models; Inclination; Ionosphere; Latitude; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Planetology; Propagation; Sampling; Science; Space Exploration and Astronautics; Space Sciences (including Extraterrestrial Physics; Temperature measurement; The Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) mission; Thermosphere; Tidal waves; Tidal winds; Tides
• ISSN: 0038-6308; 1572-9672
• DOI: 10.1007/s11214-017-0401-5

The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Thermosphere Ionosphere Electrodynamics General Circulation Model (TIEGCM) will provide a physics-based context for the interpretation of ICON measurements. To optimize the realism of the model simulations, ICON wind and temperature measurements near the ∼97 km lower boundary of the TIEGCM will be used to specify the upward-propagating tidal spectrum at this altitude. This will be done by fitting a set of basis functions called Hough Mode Extensions (HMEs) to 27-day mean tidal winds and temperatures between 90 and 105 km altitude and between 12 °S and 42 °N latitude on a day-by-day basis. The current paper assesses the veracity of the HME fitting methodology given the restricted latitude sampling and the UT-longitude sampling afforded by the MIGHTI instrument viewing from the ICON satellite, which will be in a circular 27° inclination orbit. These issues are investigated using the output from a reanalysis-driven global circulation model, which contains realistic variability of the important tidal components, as a mock data set. ICON sampling of the model reveals that the 27-day mean diurnal and semidiurnal tidal components replicate well the 27-day mean tidal components obtained from full synoptic sampling of the model, but the terdiurnal tidal components are not faithfully reproduced. It is also demonstrated that reconstructed tidal components based on HME fitting to the model tides between 12 °S and 42 °N latitude provide good approximations to the major tidal components expected to be encountered during the ICON mission. This is because the constraints provided by fitting both winds and temperatures over the 90–105 km height range are adequate to offset the restricted sampling in latitude. The boundary conditions provided by the methodology described herein will greatly enhance the ability of the TIEGCM to provide a physical framework for interpreting atmosphere-ionosphere coupling in ICON observations due to atmospheric tides.