Satellite drag effects due to uplifted oxygen neutrals during super magnetic storms

Lakhina, Gurbax S.; Tsurutani, Bruce T.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-24-745-2017

Articles | Volume 24, issue 4

https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-24-745-2017

© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Special issue:

Nonlinear Waves and Chaos

https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-24-745-2017

© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 24, issue 4

Research article

|

15 Dec 2017

Research article |

| 15 Dec 2017

Satellite drag effects due to uplifted oxygen neutrals during super magnetic storms

Gurbax S. Lakhina and Bruce T. Tsurutani

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Final revised paper (published on 15 Dec 2017)
Preprint (discussion started on 19 Jul 2017)

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment

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- Supplement

RC1: 'Review', Anonymous Referee #1, 21 Aug 2017
RC2: 'Review', Yasuhito Narita, 08 Sep 2017
RC3: 'specific comments', Anonymous Referee #3, 14 Sep 2017
AC1: 'Reply to the comments by the Referees', Gurbax S. Lakhina, 30 Oct 2017

Peer-review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision

AR by Gurbax S. Lakhina on behalf of the Authors (15 Nov 2017) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Publish as is (17 Nov 2017) by George Morales

AR by Gurbax S. Lakhina on behalf of the Authors (17 Nov 2017)

Short summary

A preliminary estimate of the drag force per unit mass on typical low-Earth-orbiting satellites moving through the ionosphere during Carrington-type super magnetic storms is calculated by a simple first-order model which takes into account the ion-neutral drag between the upward-moving oxygen ions and O neutral atoms. It is shown that oxygen ions and atoms can be uplifted to 850 km altitude, where they produce about 40 times more satellite drag per unit mass than normal.