Author(s)

Igor Mingalev, Galina Mingaleva, Victor Mingalev

Polar Geophysical Institute, Kola Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Apatity, Russia.

To investigate how geomagnetic activity affects the formation of the large-scale global circulation of the middle atmosphere, the non-hydrostatic model of the global wind system of the Earth’s atmosphere, developed earlier in the Polar Geophysical Institute, is utilized. The model produces three-dimensional global distributions of the zonal, meridional, and vertical components of the wind velocity and neutral gas density in the troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, and lower thermosphere. Simulations are performed for the winter period in the northern hemisphere (16 January) and for two distinct values of geomagnetic activity (Kp = 1 and Kp = 4). The simulation results indicate that geomagnetic activity ought to influence considerably on the formation of global wind system in the stratosphere, mesosphere, and lower thermosphere. The influence on the middle atmosphere is conditioned by the vertical transport of air from the lower thermosphere to the mesosphere and stratosphere and vice versa. This transport may be rather distinct under different geomagnetic activity conditions.

Middle Atmosphere; Global Circulation; Numerical Simulation

I. Mingalev, G. Mingaleva and V. Mingalev, "A Simulation Study of the Effect of Geomagnetic Activity on the Global Circulation in the Earth’s Middle Atmosphere," Atmospheric and Climate Sciences, Vol. 3 No. 3A, 2013, pp. 8-19. doi: 10.4236/acs.2013.33A002.