Title :
Improving the ionospheric specification in the Global Ionosphere Thermosphere Model
Author :
Aaron Ridley; Jie Zhu; Xianjing Liu;Ankit Goel;Dennis Bernstein
Author_Institution :
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 48109-2143, United States
fDate :
5/1/2015 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
The Global Ionosphere Thermosphere Model (GITM) is a relatively new model that describes the new-Earth space environment in a different way than many of the other existing coupled models. First, it uses an altitude grid that stretches from 100 km to 500–800 km depending on F10.7, with roughly 1/3 scale-height resolution. Second, it solves the more-complete momentum equation in the vertical direction of the thermosphere, allowing non-hydrostatic solutions to form. Third, the code is parallel in such a way that the number of grid cells in the latitude and longitude direction can be specified at run-time, so that the resolution is highly adjustable. The ionosphere within GITM is treated in spherical coordinates, so is limited in altitude. Recently, the ionosphere has been modified in three ways: (1) the ion and electron temperatures have been improved; (2) a nightside EUV flux was implemented in the code; and (3) the Eddy diffusion has been modified to allow a more realistic electron density.
Conference_Titel :
Radio Science Conference (URSI AT-RASC), 2015 1st URSI Atlantic
DOI :
10.1109/URSI-AT-RASC.2015.7303095