Thermospheric mass density perturbations are commonly observed during geomagnetic storms. The sources of these perturbations have not been well understood. In this study, we investigated the thermospheric density perturbations observed by the CHAMP and GRACE satellites during the 24-25 August 2005 geomagnetic storm. The observations show that large neutral density enhancements occurred not only at high latitudes, but also globally. In particular, large density perturbations were seen in the equatorial regions away from the high-latitude, magnetospheric energy sources. We used the high-resolution Multiscale Atmosphere Geospace Environment (MAGE) model to reproduce the consecutive neutral density changes observed by the satellites during the storm. The MAGE simulation, which resolved mesoscale high-latitude convection electric fields and field-aligned currents, and included a physics-based specification of the auroral precipitation, was contrasted with a standalone ionosphere-thermosphere simulation driven by an empirical model of the high-latitude electrodynamics. The comparison demonstrates that a first-principles representation of highly dynamic and localized Joule heating events in a fully coupled whole geospace model such as MAGE is critical to accurately capturing both the generation and propagation of traveling atmospheric disturbances (TADs) that produce neutral density perturbations globally. In particular, the MAGE simulation shows that the larger density peaks in the equatorial region that are observed by CHAMP and GRACE are the results of TADs, generated at high latitudes in both hemispheres, propagating to and interfering at lower latitudes. This study reveals the importance of investigating thermospheric density variations in a fully coupled geospace model with sufficiently high resolving power.
