Missing driver in the Sun-Earth connection from energetic el
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TitleMissing driver in the Sun-Earth connection from energetic electron precipitation impacts mesospheric ozoneAbstractEnergetic electron precipitation (EEP) from the EarthÅ› outer radiation belt continuously affects the chemical composition of the polar mesosphere. EEP can contribute to catalytic ozone loss in the mesosphere through ionization and enhanced production of odd hydrogen. However, the long-term mesospheric ozone variability caused by EEP has not been quantified or confirmed to date. Here we show, using observations from three different satellite instruments, that EEP events strongly affect ozone at 60-80km, leading to extremely large (up to 90%) short-term ozone depletion. This impact is comparable to that of large, but much less frequent, solar proton events. On solar cycle timescales, we find that EEP causes ozone variations of up to 34% at 70-80km. With such a magnitude, it is reasonable to suspect that EEP could be an important part of solar influence on the atmosphere and climate system. â"' 2014 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.AcknowledgementsM.E.A. would like to thank Marko Laine for helpful comments. The work of M.E.A. and P.T.V. was supported by the Academy of Finland through the project nos 136225, 140888 and 272782 (SPOC: Significance of Energetic Electron Precipitation to Odd Hydrogen, Ozone, and Climate). The work of C.J.R. was supported by the New Zealand Marsden fund. M.A.C. was funded by the Natural Environment Research Council as part of the British Antarctic Survey Polar Science for Planet Earth Programme. The work of A.S. was supported by the Academy of Finland through the project nos 258165 and 265005 (CLASP: Climate and Solar Particle Forcing). P.T.V. and A.S. acknowledge the support from the European Union COST Action ES1005 TOSCA (http://www.tosca-cost.eu). We are grateful to NASA Aura mission for providing MLS data, European Space Agency for providing GOMOS data and NASA TIMED Project and SABER Experiment Team for providing SABER data.Funding DetailsESA, Natural Environment Research Council; NASA, Natural Environment Research Council; NERC, Natural Environment Research Council
TypeArticleCitationAndersson, M., Verronen, P., Rodger, C., Clilverd, M. and Seppala, A. (2014). Missing driver in the Sun-Earth connection from energetic electron precipitation impacts mesospheric ozone. Nature Communications, 5 IdentifierAndersson2014Relevancerank3
Seppälä, A., Missing driver in the Sun-Earth connection from energetic el , [Andersson2014]. Antarctica NZ, accessed 02/08/2026, https://adam.antarcticanz.govt.nz/nodes/view/63367, 10.1038/ncomms6197
