GEM: Why Does the Magnetosphere Enter a Steady Mode of Energy Transport Instead of an Oscillatory Mode?

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This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).The goal of this project is to better understand the magnetospheric processes involved during steady magnetospheric convection (SMC). There are two main scientific objectives of the research, to investigate the role of bursty bulk flows (BBFs) during steady magnetospheric convection events (SMCs) and to investigate why the magnetosphere enters a steady mode of energy transfer instead of an oscillatory mode (the "sawtooth oscillation" mode). The second objective will be broken down into two sub-components, the first will compare active SMCs that have BBFs to global sawtooth oscillations. The second component will compare the substorm that initiates an SMC to the first injection in a sawtooth event. Before investigating the main objectives, an improved, more robust method for identifying SMCs must be created. Three different methods will be tested. Once a method is chosen, a comprehensive list of SMCs will be generated. This list will also be shared with the Geospace Environment Modeling (GEM) community so that others may also investigate the events and compare them to other modes of energy transfer. By studying specific aspects of SMCs and comparing them to sawtooth oscillations this research will increase the understanding of SMCs and how the magnetosphere enters into a steady state. While previous studies of SMCs and other modes of magnetospheric transport have focused mainly on the solar wind drivers, this project will study the magnetospheric parameters that play a role in determining when and why the magnetosphere enters into different modes of energy transfer. The new method for identifying SMCs will not only allow for a more comprehensive list of SMCs to be created, it will also help to find SMCs in the future. The list of SMCs created during this investigation will shared with the GEM community. This list will allow for more in-depth studies of SMC events and for comparative studies of SMCs to other modes of energy transport.