Geospace Environment Modeling (GEM): Simulation Studies of Substorm Triggering Processes

研究人员利用磁流体动力学（MHD）模型来研究磁亚暴的触发和磁层对行星际磁场（IMF）变化的响应。具体研究领域包括：太阳风在磁层中引起的瞬变及其电离层特征的传播；亚暴生长阶段的磁尾和等离子体层结构；太阳风瞬变对等离子体薄层变薄的影响以及近地等离子体层和磁尾在IMF变化期间的动力学。这项研究最初将只涉及模型模拟。稍后，研究人员将使用实际亚暴事件的太阳风输入。这些研究旨在提高我们对地磁亚暴的认识，从而提高预测能力。

The investigators use magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) modeling to study the triggering of magnetic substorms and the response of the magnetosphere to changes in the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). Specific areas of study include: the propagation of solar wind induced transients in the magnetosphere and their ionospheric signatures; magnetotail and plasma sheet configuration during substorm growth phase; the effects of solar wind transients on plasma sheet thinning; and the dynamics of the near Earth plasmasheet and magnetotail during changes in the IMF. The study will initially involve only model simulations. Later, the investigators will use solar wind inputs from actual substorm events. The studies are aimed at improving our understanding of geomagnetic substorms leading to an improved predictive capability.