Time Dependent Modeling of Ionospheric Plasma Flows into the Magnetosphere

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

This proposal requests continuing support for a broad spectrum of modeling activities concentrating on the high speed transport of polar into the magnetosphere and on ionosphere-plasmasphere coupling. Specifically, support is requested for the following major research areas: 1. The use our hydrodynamic three ion species (H+,He+,O+) polar wind model to reproduce observations of the classical polar wind under changing geophysical conditions with special attention to modeling the He+ dominated transient outflows. Individual polar wind and upwelling ions events will be also modeled and compared the observations. These comparisons will be done in cooperation with Drs. M. Blanc, M.O. Chandler, J.M. Grebowsky, and T.E. Moore. 2. Further studies of the ionosphere-plasmasphere system with our ionosphere to conjugate ionosphere model. Specific studies include the investigation of solar cycle and seasonal variations in plasmaspheric parameters, the effects of variations in atmospheric neutral hydrogen on plasmaspheric densities and modeling the effects of substorms on the coupled ionosphere-plasmasphere system. 3. A multispecies model will be developed based on a gyrotropic twenty moment approximation. The coupled time-dependent 20 moment transport equations will be solved with a second order accurate (both space and time) Godunov-type upwind differencing technique with dimensional splitting. The numerical scheme itself is being developed with the support of the NASA Space Physics Theory Program; however, its application to polar wind and plasmaspheric flows is to be carried out in the framework of this proposal.