Simulating Magnetohydrodynamic Turbulence in the Plasma Sheet and its Role in Transport

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This project will perform and analyze numerical magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of the terrestrial magnetosphere with the aim to investigate the causes of large-scale, low-frequency turbulence in the plasma sheet and its implications for convection, transport, and the energy budget. With respect to potential causes of turbulence, the relative roles of turbulence in the upstream solar wind, reconnection, and other internal processes will be investigated. In addition, the role of coupling to the ionosphere will be examined. A well-documented and successfully validated MHD model will be run on state-of-the-art NASA and NSF XSEDE supercomputer systems to perform a well planned set of high resolution idealized simulation runs as well as case studies driven by solar wind observations for real events. For the latter, the results will be further analyzed and verified by comparison with magnetosphere observations from the THEMIS spacecraft. Turbulence is a phenomenon that occurs widely in fluid systems and turbulent processes are abundant in space plasmas. The Earth's magnetosphere is a natural laboratory for studying such processes, where both simulations and direct observations are possible. Results from this project therefore will have impact on a broad variety of research areas.