M-I Coupling: Theoretical Study of Magnetospherically Generated Electric Fields in the Auroral and Subauroral Ionosphere

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The investigators propose to study the electrodynamics of the coupled magnetosphere-ionosphere (M-I) system in the vicinity of the region-2 shielding currents that link the inner plasma sheet and inner magnetosphere to the auroral and subauroral ionosphere. The project will focus on two outstanding physics questions: (1) the effects of field-aligned potential drops on global electric field and precipitation patterns, and (2) the physical mechanisms involved in the generation of Polarization Jet (PJ) events. The principal tool for carrying out the proposed investigation will be the Rice Convection Model (RCM), an established computer model that self-consistently follows the time evolution of electric fields, currents, and plasma flow velocities in the quasi-static approximation. Improvements in the numerical machinery and algorithms of the RCM will be implemented, as needed, to investigate these phenomena. Model results will be archived and visualization tools provided to facilitate comparisons with data from incoherent scatter radars and polar-orbiting spacecraft, and with empirically derived patterns of electric fields developed within the context of the NSF CEDAR initiative. Comparisons with observational data will be carried out in collaboration with Utah State University and as part of the GEM Magnetosphere-Ionosphere Coupling Campaign.