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Upper atmosphere radiance data assimilation: Observing system simulation experiments for GOLD far ultraviolet observations
  • Clayton Cantrall,
  • Tomoko Matsuo,
  • Stan Solomon
Clayton Cantrall
University of Colorado, Boulder

Corresponding Author:clayton.cantrall@colorado.edu

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Tomoko Matsuo
University of Colorado, Boulder
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Stan Solomon
National Center for Atmospheric Research
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Abstract

Availability of far ultraviolet observations of Earth’s dayglow by the NASA Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) mission presents an unparalleled opportunity for upper atmosphere data assimilation. Assimilation of the observed dayglow emissions can be formulated in a similar fashion to lower atmosphere radiance data assimilation approaches using the sensitivity of the Lyman-Birge-Hopfield (LBH) band emission to thermospheric temperature. To demonstrate such an approach, we present a proof-of-concept implementation of an ensemble square-root filter measurement update step using ensemble simulation of the thermosphere and LBH emission by the NOAA’s Whole Atmosphere Model (WAM) and NCAR’s Global Airglow model. With help of a new assimilation approach, the utility of GOLD observations can be extended to reveal the global, time-dependent, altitude-resolved thermospheric structure, offering the key to addressing a number of outstanding questions such as origins of traveling atmospheric disturbances.