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Abstract The ionospheric Nighttime Winter Anomaly (NWA) is a feature observed in the Northern Hemisphere at the American and in the Southern Hemisphere at the Asian longitude sector under low solar activity conditions. Jakowski et al. (2015) analyzed ground-based GPS derived TEC and peak electron density data from radio occultation measurements on Formosat-3/COSMIC satellites and confirmed the persistence of the phenomenon. Further, they assumed that Mid-latitude Summer Nighttime Anomaly (MSNA) and related special anomalies such as the Weddell Sea Anomaly (WSA) and the Okhotsk Sea Anomaly (OSA) are closely related to the NWA via enhanced wind-induced uplifting of the ionosphere. The aim of this paper is to study the factors causing these anomalies and also to investigate if these anomalies are re-produced by IRI. The results show that IRI model does include the NWA effect, though at a different longitude and could be improved for better predictions. The IRI-2016 model does show WSA in TEC but not in NmF2. Further, the IRI-2016 model could clearly predict the OSA both in NmF2 and TEC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Measurements from TOMS and UARS-HALOE are used to estimate the effects of energetic particle precipitation (EPP) over the stratosphere during two geomagnetic storms occurred in November of the years 2003 and 2004. The EPP couples the solar wind to the Earth’s atmosphere and indirectly to the Earth’s climate. Due to particle precipitation, the ionization and dissociation increase, and create odd nitrogen (NO x ) and odd hydrogen (HO x ) in the upper atmosphere, which can affect ozone chemistry. In this paper, statistically significant variation in total ozone content at middle latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere is observed. The variations depend on the intensity of geomagnetic disturbances and the geomagnetic longitude. A significant variation in NO x concentration at altitudes from 30 to 50 km is observed from the profiles analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The stratospheric temperature trend plays an important role in distinguishing between the climate systems responses to natural and human induced changes. A linear trend of monthly mean temperature from the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis dataset for both Hemispheres with 2.5° step in latitude and longitude for the period 1979–2011, were calculated on this paper. Four different stratospheric heights: 10 hPa, 30 hPa, 50 hPa, and 70 hPa were analyzed. The observed trend pattern changes with height as expected. The area of negative trends increases when we go up in the stratosphere. Lower and middle stratosphere shows positive trends, in a section of the latitudinal band between 50° S and 60° S. As we go down the stratosphere these positive trends are smoother. At 10 hPa all trends are negative. In Southern Hemisphere at 30 hPa significant negative trends at low middle latitudes were observed. These results were compared with others, obtained by models and observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]