Solar,geomagnetic and long term effects on thermospheric neutral kinetic temperatures at midlatitude

Measurements of midlatitude thermospheric neutral kinetic temperatures obtained from 1972 to 1979 have been used to investigate the effects of solar and geomagnetic activity, as well as long term effects, on the thermosphere. With these data a simple power law relationship between the temperature and solar activity (expressed as the 2.8 GHz solar radio flux) has been found to give a high correlation. In addition, a linear relationship between temperature changes and geomagnetic activity (expressed as Ap), as well as annual and semiannual effects have been found. The annual variation is found to be indistinguishable in phase from the annual variation of the solar declination angle. The present four parameter formulation gives a better fit to the data than is obtained with available empirical models of the thermosphere, and this has allowed us to investigate the properties and postulates of some of these models.