资源环境科技发展态势分析平台

Theoretical studies have shown that the solar eclipse can have significant impacts on the thermospheric mass density, which, however, has not been confirmed from the observational perspective. In this study, we present direct observations of the thermospheric density responses to three solar eclipses based on the measurements of GRACE and GOCE. It was observed that the eclipses induced about 20 and 25% density depletions at GRACE altitudes (360 and 480 km, respectively) and about 10% depletions at GOCE altitudes (∼270 km). Moreover, the eclipse could generate large-scale TADs, which propagate globally even from the dusk-side to the dawn-side after the eclipse ended. Those thermospheric responses could be generally reproduced by TIEGCM. However, the simulated densities recover more rapidly than the observations at the dusk-side. This study provides observational evidence to validate the results from theoretical models and further bring insights into the mechanism of eclipse effects on the ionosphere-thermosphere system.