A superposed epoch study of the effects of solar wind stream interface events on the upper mesospheric and lower thermospheric temperature

Abstract The response of mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) temperature to energetic particle precipitation over the Earth’s polar regions is not uniform due to complex phenomena within the MLT environment. Nevertheless, the modification of MLT temperatures may require an event-based study to be better observed. This work examines the influence of precipitation, triggered by solar wind stream interfaces (SI) event from 2002 to 2007, on polar MLT temperature. We first test the relationship between the ionospheric absorption measured by the SANAE IV (South African National Antarctic Expedition IV) riometer and the layer of energetic particle precipitation from POES (Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites). The combined particle measurements from POES 15, 16, 17 and 18 were obtained close in time to the pass of the SABER (Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry) temperature retrieval. Here, a superposed epoch technique is described and implemented to obtain average temperature profiles during SI-triggered particle precipitation. The superposed epoch average shows no significant temperature decrease below 100 km prior to the onset of SI-triggered precipitation, whereas a clear superposed average temperature decrease is observed at 95 km after the SI impact. A case study of SI event also yields similar observations. Results indicate that cooling effects due to the production of mesospheric odd hydrogen might be major contributors to temperature decrease under compressed solar wind stream.