Impacts of CME‐induced geomagnetic storms on the midlatitude mesosphere and lower thermosphere observed by a sodium lidar and TIMED/GUVI

Abstract In this paper, we report our findings on the correlation between the neutral temperature (around the mesopause) and thermospheric column density O/N2 ratio, along with their response to geomagnetic storms above midlatitude of North America. A temperature/wind Doppler Na lidar, operating at Fort Collins, CO (41°N, 105°W), and later at Logan, UT (42°N and 112°W), observed significant temperature increases (temperature anomaly) above 95 km (as much as 55 K at 105 km altitude) during four coronal mass ejection‐induced geomagnetic storms (April 2002, November 2004, May 2005, and October 2012). Coincident Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics/Global Ultraviolet Spectrographic Imager observations indicate significant depletion in the thermospheric O/N2 ratio at the lidar locations. These observations suggest that the local mesopause warming seen by the lidar is due to transport of the high‐latitude joule and particle heated neutrals at the E and F layers to the midlatitude region.