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Abstract:
Neutral winds in the lower thermosphere are believed to play an important role for the dynamics and electrodynamics of the ionosphere. However, global observations of the lower thermospheric winds have been limited after the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite mission, which made wind measurements mainly during the 1990s. The Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) mission was launched on October 11, 2019. Since then, the Michelson Interferometer for Global High-resolution Thermospheric Imaging (MIGHTI) instrument onboard ICON has made continuous measurements of neutral wind velocity covering the lower and middle thermosphere between 90 and 300 km. The lower thermospheric winds from ICON/MIGHTI can be directly compared with ionospheric measurements from other satellite missions. This study presents two such examples. One is the conjunction observations of the lower thermospheric winds by ICON/MIGHTI and the equatorial electrojet derived from magnetic field measurements by the Swarm satellite mission. The other is the conjunction observations of the ICON/MIGHTI winds with sporadic-E layers derived from radio occultation measurements by the COSMIC-2 satellite constellation. In both cases, the wind effect on the ionospheric parameter was clearly observed. The physical mechanisms behind these observations will be discussed.
