Influence of solar activity on the chemistry of the MLT-region modelled with ICON-ART

During times of high solar activity an increased amount of solar coronal mass ejections (CME) are observed and initiate geomagnetic storms. These solar wind particles are guided and accelerated by Earth's magnetic field and get redirected towards the polar region, where they precipitate into the atmosphere of Earth. In conjungtion with varying solar activity these SPEs and geomagnetic storms lead to increased ionization and dissociation of gases in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere of Earth. This leads to the photochemical creation of NOx and HOx species which influence the ozone chemistry of Earth's polar regions a short time after the CMEs.
To be able to study these events we use the ICOsahedral Non-hydrostatic model (ICON), a numerical weather and climate model developed by the German Weather Service (DWD), the Max-Planck Institute of Meteorology (MPI-M) and various codevelopers. Specifically we use the upper atmosphere extension (UA-ICON) and an external interactive chemistry model to study specific periods of high solar activity. This is a summary showcasing the different additions that have been made to the model to aid our studies, including an updated photolysis mechanism, fitting of geomagnetic data on the model grid, updated Lyman-α process and photoionization in the extreme UV and Schumann-Runge Continuum.