Atmospheric odd nitrogen response to electron forcing from a 6D magnetospheric hybrid-kinetic simulation

Abstract

Abstract. Modelling the distribution of odd nitrogen (NO_x) in the polar middle and upper atmosphere has proven to be a complex task. Firstly, its production by energetic electron precipitation is highly variable on hourly time scales. Secondly, there are uncertainties in the measurement-based but simplified electron flux data sets that are currently used in atmosphere and climate models. The altitude distribution of NO_x is strongly affected by atmospheric dynamics also on monthly time scales, particularly in the polar winter periods when the isolated air inside the polar vortex descends from lower thermosphere to mesosphere and stratosphere. Recent comparisons between measurements and simulations have revealed strong differences in the NO_x distribution, with questions remaining about the representation of both production and transport in models. Here we present for the first time a novel approach, where the electron atmospheric forcing in the auroral energy range (50 eV–50 keV) is derived from a magnetospheric hybrid-kinetic simulation with a detailed description of energy range and resolution, and spatial and diurnal distribution. These electron data are used as input in a global whole atmosphere model to study the impact on polar NO_x and ozone. We will show that the magnetospheric electron data provides a realistic representation of the forcing which leads to considerable impact in the lower thermosphere, mesosphere and stratosphere. We find that during the polar winter the simulated auroral electron precipitation increases the polar NO_x concentrations up to 200 %, 50 %, and 7 % in the lower thermosphere, mesosphere, and upper stratosphere, respectively, when compared to no auroral electron forcing in the atmospheric model. These results demonstrate the potential of combining magnetospheric and atmospheric simulations for detailed studies of solar wind – atmosphere coupling.