TY - GEN
T1 - Impacts of Resolved Gravity Waves on Global-Scale Wave Variability in the Ionosphere-Thermosphere System
T2 - 2026 United States National Committee of URSI National Radio Science Meeting, USNC-URSI NRSM 2026
AU - Gasperini, Federico
AU - Liu, Hanli
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© USNC-URSI NRSM 2026.All rights reserved.
PY - 2026
Y1 - 2026
N2 - Day-to-day ionosphere-thermosphere (I-T) variability relevant to radio systems is strongly influenced by lower-atmosphere waves. We evaluate a high-resolution configuration of the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model with thermosphere-ionosphere extension (HR-WACCM-X) for September 2021 (geomagnetically quiet) against a standard-resolution run and satellite observations. With explicitly resolved gravity waves (GWs), the HR run reproduces two equatorially trapped global-scale waves, DE3 (the diurnal eastward nonmigrating tide with zonal wavenumber s=-3) and a ~3-day ultra-fast Kelvin wave (UFKW; eastward, s=-1), with realistic amplitudes, vertical reach, and temporal variability. HR-WACCM-X captures sharp DE3 and UFKW spectral peaks near ~100 km that align with ICON/MIGHTI winds (Figure 1), and these signatures map upward into electron density (Ne) perturbations observed by COSMIC-2/GIS. In contrast, the coarse-resolution run underestimates amplitudes and misses key spectral features, consistent with limits of parameterized GW schemes.
AB - Day-to-day ionosphere-thermosphere (I-T) variability relevant to radio systems is strongly influenced by lower-atmosphere waves. We evaluate a high-resolution configuration of the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model with thermosphere-ionosphere extension (HR-WACCM-X) for September 2021 (geomagnetically quiet) against a standard-resolution run and satellite observations. With explicitly resolved gravity waves (GWs), the HR run reproduces two equatorially trapped global-scale waves, DE3 (the diurnal eastward nonmigrating tide with zonal wavenumber s=-3) and a ~3-day ultra-fast Kelvin wave (UFKW; eastward, s=-1), with realistic amplitudes, vertical reach, and temporal variability. HR-WACCM-X captures sharp DE3 and UFKW spectral peaks near ~100 km that align with ICON/MIGHTI winds (Figure 1), and these signatures map upward into electron density (Ne) perturbations observed by COSMIC-2/GIS. In contrast, the coarse-resolution run underestimates amplitudes and misses key spectral features, consistent with limits of parameterized GW schemes.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105042788952
U2 - 10.23919/NRSM68586.2026.11550990
DO - 10.23919/NRSM68586.2026.11550990
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:105042788952
T3 - 2026 United States National Committee of URSI National Radio Science Meeting, USNC-URSI NRSM 2026 - Proceedings
SP - 463
BT - 2026 United States National Committee of URSI National Radio Science Meeting, USNC-URSI NRSM 2026 - Proceedings
PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Y2 - 6 January 2026 through 9 January 2026
ER -