GEM: Effect of Multiple Substorms on the Buildup of the Ring Current

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This project will examine the conditions that lead to a buildup of the Earth's ring current during magnetic storms. It will utilize the Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC) at Goddard Space Flight Center to simulate the development of the ring current. The global magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) simulation models at the CCMC can be coupled to the ring current model developed by M.-C. Fok. There are three main objectives to this project. The first is to determine the relative importance of multiple substorms within a storm on the ring current dynamics. The second objective is to examine how different solar wind conditions can affect the buildup of the ring current. The third is to simulate GEM campaign events and compare to satellite data to monitor the performance of the simulation. The Fok Ring Current Model will be driven using magnetic fields and ionospheric potentials from MHD simulations. The first two objectives will be met using simulated solar wind data to drive the MHD simulations so that effects of individual solar wind and preconditioning properties can be better isolated. MHD simulations of dipolarization events will be used to determine the relative importance of ionospheric potential and inductive electric fields on ring current dynamics. The second part of the study will vary the solar wind magnetic field and the solar wind density to determine the relative importance of these factors on the buildup of the ring current. The third part will use solar wind data from the ACE satellite to simulate actual events and compare the results to Los Alamos geosynchronous satellite data. The project will help provide a better understanding of the coupled nonlinear dynamical system using computer simulations. This is a fundamental problem for future space weather predictions and for geospace modeling. The study will test the ring current and MHD models that may be used for space weather prediction. Since the models are available to the scientific community through runs on request by the Community Coordinated Modeling Center, any improvements to the models resulting from this work will be available to the scientific community.