Processes responsible for the compositional structure of the thermosphere

Abstract

The relative importances of the various physical and chemical mechanisms that force changes in neutral thermospheric composition for a given geophysical situation were quantified using a diagnostic postprocessor analysis package in conjunction with runs of the NCAR thermospheric general circulation model (TGCM) that was extended to include the terms of the neutral composition equation. New information was obtained on the causal mechanisms responsible for changes in the concentrations of the three neutral species, O2, O, and N2, whose time-dependent mass mixing ratios were calculated within the TGCM. Principal results calculated for F-region altitudes are described, and thermospheric compositions calculated using the NCAR-TGCM model are compared with the predictions of the empirical thermospheric model of Hedin (1987).