The Arctic thermosphere and E-region ionosphere is sampled with three instruments, a novel nitrogen-ion (N2+) resonant lidar, the Advanced Modular Incoherent Scatter radar (AMISR), and a meridian scanning photometer at Poker Flat Alaska. The measurements are assimilated and modeled with the United States Air Force multispecies ionospheric chemistry model to produce a closed set of E-region continuity equations from which the number densities of [O2+], [NO+], and [NO] are determined in addition to the first range-resolved profile of N2+ density from 80-300 kilometer that is determined directly from the lidar measurements. These N2+ ion data provide more accurate E-region ionization rate estimates than can be extracted from the incoherent scatter radar (ISR) bulk ion information alone, and the NO data are used to investigate the life cycle of auroral NO. The research uses new instrument technology to achieve unprecedented sampling of two-dimensional ion morphology in the auroral E-region (using the electronic beam steering of AMISR), and unprecedented measurements of the N2+ altitude profile using an N2+ resonance at 391 nanometer.
