Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

How Uncertainty In The Neutral Wind Limits The Accuracy Of Ionospheric Modeling And Forecasting, Michael David, Jan J. Sojka, Robert W. Schunk

Publications

One of the most important input fields for an ionospheric model is the horizontal neutral wind. The primary mechanism by which the neutral wind affects ionospheric densities is the inducement of an upward or downward ion drift along the magnetic field lines; this affects the rate at which ions are lost through recombination. The magnitude of this effect depends upon the dip angle of the magnetic field; for this reason, the impact of the neutral wind is somewhat less in polar regions than at mid-latitudes. It is unfortunate that observations of the neutral wind are relatively scarce, as compared for …