Thermosphere extension of the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model

There is thus a need for a numerical model that encompasses the whole atmosphere and can self-consistently simulate the dynamic, physical, chemical, radiative, and electrodynamic processes that are important for the Sun-Earth system. This is the goal for developing the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM).

In this work, we report the development and preliminary validation of the thermospheric extension of WACCM (WACCM-X), which extends from the Earth's surface to the upper thermosphere. The WACCM-X uses the finite volume dynamical core from the NCAR Community Atmosphere Model and includes an interactive chemistry module resolving most known neutral chemistry and major ion chemistry in the middle and upper atmosphere, and photolysis and photoionization.