Numerical modeling of the terrestrial magnetosphere

地球磁层是由地球内部磁场与不断从太阳吹来的超音速太阳风相互作用而形成的。近地空间环境中的物理过程对现代技术的许多方面都有巨大的影响。这些影响包括全球定位系统的精度、高频无线电通信的质量，特别是在高纬度地区、各种空间资产的性能，包括科学和商业卫星的许多故障。本建议所述的研究旨在提高我们对地球磁层的认识，并开发适用于提高空间资产性能的研究工具。我们的研究重点是利用先进的数值模拟来描述和理解近地空间环境的物理特性。为此目的，我们将与加拿大和国际各实验空间物理小组合作，利用它们的数据集验证和改进当前一代的地球磁层全球环流模型。我们还将实施额外的数值模型，以评估经常造成卫星电子设备严重故障的高能电子对空间卫星的危险。建议研究的各个方面将用于培养硕士/博士研究生和博士后水平的高素质人才。

The terrestrial magnetosphere is created by the interaction of the Earth's internal magnetic field with the supersonic solar wind continuously streaming from the Sun. Physical processes in the near Earth space environment have tremendous effects on many aspects of modern technology. These effects include GPS accuracy, quality of high-frequency radio communications, especially at the high geographic latitudes, performance of various space assets, including numerous failures of scientific and commercial satellites. The research described in this proposal is aimed at improving our understanding of the terrestrial magnetosphere and developing research tools applicable to improving performance of space assets. The focus of our research is using advanced numerical modeling to describe and understand the physics of the near Earth space environment. To this end we will collaborate with various Canadian and International experimental space physics groups in using their data-sets to validate and improve the current generation of the global circulation models for the terrestrial magnetosphere. We will also implement additional numerical models to assess danger to satellites in space coming from high-energy electrons which often cause serious failures of satellite electronics. Various aspects of the proposed research will be used for Highly Qualified Personnel training at Master/Phd student as well as Postdoctoral levels.