Articles | Volume 25, issue 21
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-14719-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-14719-2025
Research article
 | 
05 Nov 2025
Research article |  | 05 Nov 2025

Thermospheric nitric oxide is modulated by the ratio of atomic to molecular oxygen and thermospheric dynamics during solar minimum

Miriam Sinnhuber, Christina Arras, Stefan Bender, Bernd Funke, Hanli Liu, Daniel R. Marsh, Thomas Reddmann, Eugene Rozanov, Timofei Sukhodolov, Monika E. Szelag, and Jan Maik Wissing

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Short summary
Nitric oxide in the upper atmosphere varies with solar activity. Observations show that this starts a chain of processes affecting the ozone layer and climate system. This is often underestimated in models. We compare five models which show large differences in simulated NO. Analysis of these discrepancies identify two processes which interact with each other: the balance between atomic and molecular oxygen in the thermosphere, and a poleward - downward transport in the winter thermosphere. 
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