Lidar and CTIPe model studies of the fast amplitude growth with altitude of the diurnal temperature "tides" in the Antarctic winter lower thermosphere and dependence on geomagnetic activity

Simulations with the Coupled Thermosphere Ionosphere Plasmasphere Electrodynamics (CTIPe) model reproduce the lidar observations and exhibit concentric ring structures of diurnal amplitudes encircling the south geomagnetic pole and overlapping the auroral zone.

These findings point to a magnetospheric source origin. Mechanistic studies using CTIPe show that the adiabatic cooling/heating associated with Hall ion drag is the dominant source of this feature, while Joule heating is a minor contributor due to the counteraction by Joule-heating-induced adiabatic cooling. The sum of total dynamical effects and Joule heating explains ~80% of the diurnal amplitudes.