WACCM Simulation of Polar Ozone Response to Relativistic Electron Precipitation

Abstract Various studies have been dedicated to quantifying the atmospheric chemical effects of energetic electron precipitation (EEP), but the contribution from relativistic electron precipitation (REP) was largely overlooked. Based on the precipitating fluxes estimated from Polar‐orbiting Observational Environmental Satellites, we quantify the REP‐induced atmospheric chemical effects using the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model. Present results show that direct stratospheric ionization caused by REP can enhance the NOx concentration by a factor of ∼2.58 at ∼37 km altitude, and the HOx concentration by a factor of ∼6.41 at ∼44 km altitude. As for the annual variation, REP causes an additional ozone loss of ∼16.2%–17.1% at ∼30–35 km altitude during winter. Moreover, REP's impact is not confined to winter since the resultant NOx and HOx production occurs in situ. Therefore, neglecting REP would significantly underestimate EEP's total effects on the stratospheric ozone.

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Publication Details

Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
Published
2025-06-08
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1029/2024gl114012
Citations
2
Primary Topic
Ionosphere and magnetosphere dynamics
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
2.31

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article

WACCM Simulation of Polar Ozone Response to Relativistic Electron Precipitation

Wei Xu, Binbin Ni, Robert A. Marshall, D. S. Zhai et al.
2 citations
Geophysical Research Letters
Ionosphere and magnetosphere dynamics
2.31
article

WACCM Simulation of Polar Ozone Response to Relativistic Electron Precipitation

Wei Xu, Binbin Ni, Robert A. Marshall, D. S. Zhai, Joshua Pettit, Shiwei Wang, Haotian Xu, Yudi Pan, Xudong Gu, Jingyuan Feng, Hilde Nesse Tyssøy, Wenchen Ma, Wen Cheng, Hanqing Shi
article en
2 citations

Abstract

Abstract Various studies have been dedicated to quantifying the atmospheric chemical effects of energetic electron precipitation (EEP), but the contribution from relativistic electron precipitation (REP) was largely overlooked. Based on the precipitating fluxes estimated from Polar‐orbiting Observational Environmental Satellites, we quantify the REP‐induced atmospheric chemical effects using the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model. Present results show that direct stratospheric ionization caused by REP can enhance the NOx concentration by a factor of ∼2.58 at ∼37 km altitude, and the HOx concentration by a factor of ∼6.41 at ∼44 km altitude. As for the annual variation, REP causes an additional ozone loss of ∼16.2%–17.1% at ∼30–35 km altitude during winter. Moreover, REP's impact is not confined to winter since the resultant NOx and HOx production occurs in situ. Therefore, neglecting REP would significantly underestimate EEP's total effects on the stratospheric ozone.

Geophysical Research LettersVol. 52(11)
George Mason University (US), University of Colorado Boulder (US), Wuhan University (CN), University of Bergen (NO)
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Openalex Percentile: Top 11%
Ionosphere and magnetosphere dynamics
2.31
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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