Modelling of pulsating aurora observed by EISCAT with the detailed Sodankylä Ion-Neutral Chemistry Model

Thomas Ulich1, Esa Turunen1, Pekka Verronen2, Tuomo Nygrén3, and Francis Sedgemore-Schulthess4

1Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory, Sodankylä, Finland
2Finnish Meteorological Institute, Geophysical Research, Helsinki, Finland
3Dept. of Physical Sciences, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
4Danish Space Research Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark

Abstract

On 17th December 1990, the UHF radar of the EISCAT Scientific Association in Tromsø, Norway, was running the Finnish PULSE experiment, which has a very high temporal and spatial resolution. During the experiment, between 0245 UT and 0330 UT, a series of precipitation bursts of auroral electrons was observed by the radar. A near-by photometer, whose field of view coincided with that of the radar, observed pulsating aurora. In the present paper, we study the event by means of the revised Sodankylä Ion-Neutral Chemistry (SIC) model. Recently, the model was upgraded in order to quantify the effects of particle precipitation on the neutral mesospheric chemical composition. Ionization caused by precipitating particles leads to enhanced production of some minor neutral constituents (such as NO) through reaction chains in which ionic reactions play an important role. Nitric oxides, in turn, are responsible for the destruction of mesospheric ozone. We model the temporal evolution of selected neutral and ionic species during the event between 90 and 100 km altitude by means of the time-dependent SIC model. Furthermore, we will study the temporal and spatial behaviour of the effective recombination coefficient.