** Progress in Earth and Planetary Science is the official journal of the Japan Geoscience Union, published in collaboration with its 50 society members.
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Space and planetary sciences
202108202108
Role Of the Sun and the Middle atmosphere/thermosphere/ionosphere In Climate (ROSMIC): a retrospective and prospective view
Ward W, Seppälä A, Yiğit E, Nakamura T, Stolle C, Laštovička J, Woods TN, Tomikawa Y, Lübken FJ, Solomon SC, Marsh DR, Funke B, Pallamraju DWard W, Seppälä A, Yiğit E, Nakamura T, Stolle C, Laštovička J, Woods TN, Tomikawa Y, Lübken FJ, Solomon SC, Marsh DR, Funke B, Pallamraju D
Climate, Atmosphere, Middle atmosphere, Thermosphere, Ionosphere, Solar irradiance, Energetic particles, Atmospheric coupling, Trends
Links in the middle atmosphere. A schematic showing the relationship between various components affecting the large-scale structure of the middle atmosphere. The main elements appear in the green boxes, and the processes linking them appear in the blue boxes. The arrows indicate the direction of the influence.
While knowledge of the energy inputs from the Sun (as it is the primary energy source) is important for understanding the solar-terrestrial system, of equal importance is the manner in which the terrestrial part of the system organizes itself in a quasi-equilibrium state to accommodate and re-emit this energy. The ROSMIC project (2014–2018 inclusive) was the component of SCOSTEP’s Variability of the Sun and Its Terrestrial Impact (VarSITI) program which supported research into the terrestrial component of this system. The four themes supported under ROSMIC are solar influence on climate, coupling by dynamics, trends in the mesosphere lower thermosphere, and trends and solar influence in the thermosphere. Over the course of the VarSITI program, scientific advances were made in all four themes. This included improvements in understanding (1) the transport of photochemically produced species from the thermosphere into the lower atmosphere; (2) the manner in which waves produced in the lower atmosphere propagate upward and influence the winds, dynamical variability, and transport of constituents in the mesosphere, ionosphere, and thermosphere; (3) the character of the long-term trends in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere; and (4) the trends and structural changes taking place in the thermosphere. This paper reviews the progress made in these four areas over the past 5 years and summarizes the anticipated research directions in these areas in the future. It also provides a physical context of the elements which maintain the structure of the terrestrial component of this system. The effects that changes to the atmosphere (such as those currently occurring as a result of anthropogenic influences) as well as plausible variations in solar activity may have on the solar terrestrial system need to be understood to support and guide future human activities on Earth.
