Connections between meteorology and space weather: nonmigrating tidal effects in the thermosphere and ionosphere

The recent deep and prolonged solar cycle minimum conditions provided unprecedented opportunity to observe the effects of dynamical coupling between the troposphere and the upper atmosphere. Satellite observations revealed the profound effects in the thermosphere and ionosphere of solar atmospheric tides excited by latent heat release in deep convective systems in the tropical troposphere. We successfully modeled many of the observed tidal characteristics with the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) thermosphere-ionosphere-mesosphere-electrodynamics general circulation model (TIME-GCM). In this presentation, we showcase updated simulation results and quantify the role of direct tidal penetration, electrodynamic coupling, and wave-tide interactions in the longitudinal variability simulated in the TIME-GCM upper atmosphere. We assess TIME-GCM performance by comparing our simulation results with extant observational tidal diagnostics of the thermosphere and ionosphere. Finally, we discuss the potential impacts for space weather operations.