Seasonal dependence of high latitude thermospheric winds

What is it about?

This study discusses how the large scale high latitude thermospheric wind circulation changes with the change in seasons. The ground-based data provide extensive temporal coverage, but narrow spatial coverage. On the other hand, the space-based data provide extensive spatial coverage, but limited temporal coverage. We combined the ground-based and space-based neutral wind observations as a function of seasons, latitude, and local time in a coherent way to assimilate a comprehensive picture of the high latitude geospace wind system.

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Why is it important?

This is the first ever comprehensive investigation of the large scale seasonal dependence of northern high latitude thermospheric wind circualtion in magnetic coordinates. Before that, the studies were focused on either nighttime climatology or data from individual instruments with limited spatial coverage.