Initial Observations by the GOLD Mission

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dc.contributor.authorEastes, R. W.en
dc.contributor.authorMcClintock, William E.en
dc.contributor.authorBurns, A. G.en
dc.contributor.authorAnderson, D. N.en
dc.contributor.authorAndersson, L.en
dc.contributor.authorAryal, S.en
dc.contributor.authorBudzien, S. A.en
dc.contributor.authorCai, X.en
dc.contributor.authorCodrescu, M.en
dc.contributor.authorCorreira, J. T.en
dc.contributor.authorDaniell, R. E.en
dc.contributor.authorDymond, K. F.en
dc.contributor.authorEngland, Scott L.en
dc.contributor.authorEparvier, F. G.en
dc.contributor.authorEvans, J. S.en
dc.contributor.authorForoosh, H.en
dc.contributor.authorGan, Q.en
dc.contributor.authorGreer, K. R.en
dc.contributor.authorKaran, D. K.en
dc.contributor.authorKrywonos, A.en
dc.contributor.authorLaskar, F., Ien
dc.contributor.authorLumpe, J. D.en
dc.contributor.authorMartinis, C. R.en
dc.contributor.authorMcPhate, J. B.en
dc.contributor.authorOberheide, J.en
dc.contributor.authorSiegmund, O. H.en
dc.contributor.authorSolomon, S. C.en
dc.contributor.authorVeibel, V.en
dc.contributor.authorWoods, T. N.en
dc.date.accessioned2020-12-21T15:40:13Zen
dc.date.available2020-12-21T15:40:13Zen
dc.date.issued2020-07en
dc.description.abstractThe NASA Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) mission has flown an ultraviolet-imaging spectrograph on SES-14, a communications satellite in geostationary orbit at 47.5 degrees W longitude. That instrument observes the Earth's far ultraviolet (FUV) airglow at similar to 134-162 nm using two identical channels. The observations performed include limb scans, stellar occultations, and images of the sunlit and nightside disk from 6:10 to 00:40 universal time each day. Initial analyses reveal interesting and unexpected results as well as the potential for further studies of the Earth's thermosphere-ionosphere system and its responses to solar-geomagnetic forcing and atmospheric dynamics. Thermospheric composition ratios for major constituents, O and N-2, temperatures near 160 km, and exospheric temperatures are retrieved from the daytime observations. Molecular oxygen (O-2) densities are measured using stellar occultations. At night, emission from radiative recombination in the ionosphericFregion is used to quantify ionospheric density variations in the equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA). Regions of depletedFregion electron density are frequently evident, even during the current solar minimum. These depletions are caused by the "plasma fountain effect" and are associated with the instabilities, scintillations, or "spreadF" seen in other types of observations, and GOLD makes unique observations for their study. Plain Language Summary The NASA Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) mission has flown a dual-channel, ultraviolet-imaging spectrograph on SES-14, a communications satellite in geostationary orbit at 47.5 degrees W longitude. That instrument observes the Earth's far ultraviolet (FUV) airglow at similar to 134-162 nm. The observations performed include images of the Earth's sunlit and nightside disk, limb scans, and stellar occultations, from 6:10 to 00:40 universal time each day. Initial analyses reveal interesting and unexpected results as well as the potential for further studies of the Earth's thermosphere-ionosphere system and its responses to solar-geomagnetic forcing and atmospheric dynamics. Thermospheric temperatures and composition ratios for major constituents, O and N-2, near 160-km altitude and exospheric temperatures are retrieved from the daytime observations. Molecular oxygen (O-2) densities are measured using stellar occultations. At night, emission from radiative recombination in the ionospheric F region is used to quantify ionospheric density variations in the equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA). Regions of depleted F region electron density are frequently evident in the EIA, even during the current solar minimum.en
dc.description.notesThe authors thank the hundreds of people who had a role in the GOLD mission, including those at SES, Airbus, Arianespace, ESA, CNES, CSG, NASA HQ, NASA GSFC, CPI, CU/LASP, UCB/SSL, and UCF, and those who served on the many review panels. This research is supported by NASA Contract 80GSFC18C0061 to the University of Colorado.en
dc.description.sponsorshipNASANational Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) [80GSFC18C0061]en
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1029/2020JA027823en
dc.identifier.eissn2169-9402en
dc.identifier.issn2169-9380en
dc.identifier.issue7en
dc.identifier.othere2020JA027823en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/101557en
dc.identifier.volume125en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.rightsCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Internationalen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/en
dc.subjectairglowen
dc.subjectultravioleten
dc.subjectimagingen
dc.subjectionosphereen
dc.subjectthermosphereen
dc.subjectspectraen
dc.titleInitial Observations by the GOLD Missionen
dc.title.serialJournal of Geophysical Research-Space Physicsen
dc.typeArticle - Refereeden
dc.type.dcmitypeTexten
dc.type.dcmitypeStillImageen

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