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

研究人员提议研究磁层-电离层耦合系统在连接内等离子体片和内磁层与极光和亚极光电离层的区域2屏蔽电流附近的电动力学。该项目将集中于两个悬而未决的物理问题：(1)场向势降对全球电场和降水模式的影响，以及(2)极化急流(PJ)事件产生的物理机制。开展这项研究的主要工具将是赖斯对流模型(RCM)，这是一个已建立的计算机模型，它在准静态近似下自洽地跟踪电场、电流和等离子体流动速度的时间演变。为调查这些现象，将根据需要改进RCM的数值机制和算法。将对模型结果进行存档，并提供可视化工具，以便于与非相干散射雷达和极地轨道航天器的数据进行比较，并与在国家科学基金会雪松倡议范围内开发的经验得出的电场模式进行比较。与观测数据的比较将与犹他州立大学合作进行，并作为全球地球观测系统磁层-电离层耦合运动的一部分。

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.