The Lower Thermospheric Winter‐To‐Summer Meridional Circulation: 1. Driving Mechanism

Abstract In this study, the mechanism driving the narrow lower‐thermospheric winter‐to‐summer meridional circulation is thoroughly investigated for the first time using the Specified Dynamics configuration runs of the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model eXtended (SD‐WACCMX) simulations and the TIMED Doppler Interferometer (TIDI) observations. The mean meridional circulation in the SD‐WACCMX is qualitatively consistent with the TIDI measurements, though the magnitude in the SD‐WACCMX is about 50% weaker. The lower‐thermospheric winter‐to‐summer circulation is mainly driven by the resolved wave forcing, including the tides and internally generated inertia gravity waves (GWs). The momentum forcing from the parameterized sub‐grid scale GWs is not as significant as the resolved wave forcing in driving the lower‐thermospheric meridional circulation. The GW parameterization scheme in the SD‐WACCMX only includes GWs with phase velocities in the range of ±45 m/s, which might result in most of the parameterized sub‐grid GWs dissipating and breaking in the mesosphere and hardly impacting the lower thermosphere. Only including slow GWs in the SD‐WACCMX parameterization could potentially lead to the underestimation of the meridional wind in the model. Analysis also indicates the lower‐thermospheric meridional circulation is stronger in the summer hemisphere, which is attributed to the hemispheric asymmetry in the resolved wave momentum forcing. This study underlines the importance of the whole atmosphere coupling through wave propagation and dissipation. This understanding can guide the model development with an accurate representation of underlying physical processes in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere which drives the lower‐thermospheric circulation as well as the overall dynamics of this region.