Publications related to the GRACE Missions (no abstracts)

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An Extreme Events Study of the Storm–Time Variations in Satellite Drag Coefficients

Dey, Soumyajit, Anderson, Phillip C., Pilinski, Marcin D., Sutton, Eric K., and Bukowski, Aaron L., 2025. An Extreme Events Study of the Storm–Time Variations in Satellite Drag Coefficients. Space Weather, 23(12):e2025SW004634, doi:10.1029/2025SW004634.

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@ARTICLE{2025SpWea..2304634D,
       author = {{Dey}, Soumyajit and {Anderson}, Phillip C. and {Pilinski}, Marcin D. and {Sutton}, Eric K. and {Bukowski}, Aaron L.},
        title = "{An Extreme Events Study of the Storm-Time Variations in Satellite Drag Coefficients}",
      journal = {Space Weather},
     keywords = {satellite drag, drag coefficient, geomagnetic storm, thermosphere, Gannon storm},
         year = 2025,
        month = dec,
       volume = {23},
       number = {12},
          eid = {e2025SW004634},
        pages = {e2025SW004634},
     abstract = "{This study examines storm-time variations in the drag coefficients
        $\left({C}_{D}\right)$ of the GRACE and GRACE Follow-On (FO)
        satellites during selected extreme geomagnetic
        storms{\textemdash}the October 2003, November 2003, November
        2004, and May 2024 storms. Orbit-averaged ${C}_{D}$ values
        derived using closed-form solutions show a 6\%─12\% decrease
        during the main phase of the storms. The storm-time variations
        in ${C}_{D}$ are primarily driven by (a) decreases in atomic
        oxygen (O) mole fraction with corresponding increases in
        nitrogen $\left({\mathrm{N}}_{\mathrm{2}}\right)$ mole fraction,
        and (b) higher accommodation levels resulting from enhanced O
        density and neutral temperature. The drag coefficients are
        calculated using the neutral outputs from the NRLMSIS, GITM, and
        TIEGCM atmospheric models. The drag coefficients derived from
        GITM show the maximum storm-time variations (8\%─12\%), due to
        lower pre-storm O density and temperature, resulting in lower
        accommodation coefficients and greater sensitivity of gas-
        surface interaction (GSI) to storm-induced thermospheric
        changes. The drag coefficients are calculated using Diffuse
        Reflection with Incomplete Accommodation (DRIA) and
        Cercignani─Lampis─Lord (CLL) GSI models, which show similar
        storm-time variations with larger quiet-time differences that
        reduce after storm onset. A comparison of GRACE ${C}_{D}$ during
        the October 2003, November 2003, and November 2004 storms shows
        the lowest variation for October 2003 storm (5\%─6\%) and the
        highest variation for November 2004 storm (11\%─12\%). These
        differences occur because storms with higher F10.7 indices, such
        as the October 2003 storm (daily F10.7 = 275 sfu), correspond to
        more heated background thermosphere; hence the storm-induced
        changes produce smaller relative variations in ${C}_{D}$.}",
          doi = {10.1029/2025SW004634},
       adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2025SpWea..2304634D},
      adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}
}

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