HIDRA simulations and post-processing scripts for JGR: SP manuscript: characterization of N+ abundances in the terrestrial polar wind using the multiscale atmosphere-geospace environment

The High-latitude Ionosphere Dynamics for Research Applications (HIDRA) model is part of the Multiscale Atmosphere-Geospace Environment (MAGE) model under development by the Center for Geospace Storms (CGS) NASA DRIVE Science Center. This study employs HIDRA to simulate upflows of H+, He+, O+, and N+ ions, with a particular focus on the relative N+ concentrations, production and loss mechanisms, and thermal upflow drivers as functions of season, solar activity, and magnetospheric convection. The simulation results demonstrate that N+ densities typically exceed He+ densities, N+ densities are typically ∼ 10% O+ densities, and N+ concentrations at quiet-time are approximately 50-100% of N+ concentrations during storm-time. Furthermore, the N+ and O+ upflow fluxes show similar trends with variations in magnetospheric driving. The inclusion of ion-neutral chemical reactions involving metastable atoms is shown to have significant effects on N+ production rates. With this metastable chemistry included, the simulated ion density profiles compare favorably with satellite measurements from Atmosphere Explorer C (AE-C) and Orbiting Geophysical Observatory 6 (OGO-6).

Methods
This dataset was collected by running the High-latitude Ionosphere Dynamics for Research Applications (HIDRA) model which is a significant rewrite of the Ionosphere/Polar Wind Model (IPWM) [Varney et al., 2014] [Varney et al., 2015] [Varney et al., 2016]) and designed as a component of the Multiscale Atmosphere-Geospace Environment (MAGE) framework under development by the Center for Geospace Storms NASA DRIVE Science Center. This dataset was processed using Jupyter Notebook scripts for analysis and vizualization.