Investigating Terrestrial Weather Impacts on the Ionosphere‐Thermosphere‐Mesosphere System Using Satellite Observations, Assimilative Modeling, and Climatological Tidal Modeling

Abstract The wave number (WN) structures of temperature from TIMED/SABER and electron density from COSMIC‐2 GIS data are extracted for the period 2020–2021 within ±45° latitudes. For the first time, a new version of the Climatological Tidal Model of the Thermosphere (CTMT.v2) is used to analyze the vertical‐temporal‐latitudinal tidal structures of temperature and density. CTMT.v2 uses solar flux dependent Hough Mode Extensions (HMEs), includes a more extensive collection of TIMED Doppler Interferometer (TIDI) data, compiles SABER V2.08, updates ion drag and dissipation, and provides tidal components for individual years. The vertical profile of CTMT.v2 tides from below are examined to investigate evolutions, variations, coupling, and impacts on structures of the atmospheric and ionospheric variables in the ionosphere, thermosphere, and mesosphere (ITM) regions. The main results are summarized as follows: (a) the antisymmetric structures of the WN1 move closer to the equator when the equatorial westward‐propagating semidiurnal components are strong above 140 km, (b) the antisymmetric component of the WN2 structure in the northern hemisphere is stronger than that in the southern hemisphere at ionospheric heights (above 105 km), (c) the WN3 structure shows intermittent equatorial symmetric structures at 105 km, but cannot form a clear hemispheric antisymmetric structure at other altitudes, (d) the stronger the WN4 structures in the E‐region, the well‐separated the crests of equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA) in the F‐region. This study highlights the need for more space‐based observations in the ∼100–400 km region and the development of models to advance the understanding of interconnections between terrestrial and space weather processes across different spatial and temporal scales.