Reply to Comments by A.V. Mikhailov and L. Perrone on the Paper “Evidence of Potential Thermospheric Overcooling During the May 2024 Geomagnetic Superstorm” by Kumar Ranjan et al. (2024)

Abstract In their recent commentary on KR. (2024, https://doi.org/10.1029/2024JA033148 ) suggested that the decrease in total thermospheric mass density during the May 2024 storm recovery phase on May 12 may be explained by the mechanism of neutral atomic oxygen reduction, which is connected to the upper atmospheric circulation. The authors have reached the conclusion that the poststorm “overcooling” idea does not need to be introduced. Their findings and conclusions, however, are incomplete. The decrease in poststorm geomagnetic activity to prestorm values (12–14 UT on 12th of May), together with 2–3 times enhanced Nitric Oxide (NO) infrared emission at the same time, correlates well with the UT timing of thermospheric relative density depletion between 12 and 18 UT. However, this specific timing of density depletion has not been in addressed in the commentary. The NO overcooling scenario is a crucial idea for comprehending changes in poststorm thermospheric density.