Collaborative Research: Global Simulations of Substorm Trigger with GGCM: Synergistic Coupling of Magnetic Reconnection and Ballooning-Interchange Instabilities in the Magnetotail

这个为期三年的项目的主要目标是了解亚暴条件下磁尾中气球交换不稳定性和磁重联过程的相互作用。该项目将使用GGCM（地球空间环流模型）进行全球MHD模拟。亚暴研究的最新进展有力地表明，亚暴的发生是一个协同过程，涉及磁尾重联和气胀交换不稳定性的相互耦合。在过去，全球模拟不能保留近地磁尾的气球交换过程，而亚暴发生的模型只包括重联过程是不完整的。最近的MHD模拟已经建立了解决近地磁尾膨胀不稳定性所需的条件。随着空间分辨率的提高和新的并行计算资源的使用，现在使用GGCM进行全局模拟可以满足所需的条件。在GGCM的全球模拟中，包括近地彗尾膨胀不稳定性的能力，将允许研究其与主要亚暴过程的相互作用，如磁重联和爆裂大体积流（bbf）。该项目将确定和量化在亚暴条件下全球电流片发展过程中气球交换不稳定性和磁重联的作用。该项目整合了从高中生到初级研究人员的各个层次的教学和研究。它包括参加新罕布什尔大学的一个名为SMART项目（通过研究训练取得科学和数学成就）的暑期研究所，该研究所为高中生提供研究经验。该项目也是面向大三和大四本科生的试点暑期实习项目的一部分。

The principal goal of this three-year project is to understand the interaction of ballooning-interchange instabilities and magnetic reconnection processes in the magnetotail under substorm conditions. The project will use global MHD simulations with GGCM (Geospace General Circulation Model). Recent progress in substorm studies strongly suggests that the substorm onset is a synergistic process that involves the interactive coupling of both reconnection and ballooning-interchange instabilities in the magnetotail. In the past, global simulations were not capable of retaining ballooning-interchange processes in the near-Earth magnetotail, whereas models of substorm onset that include only reconnection processes are incomplete. Recent MHD simulations have established the conditions required to resolve the ballooning instability in the near-Earth magnetotail. With improvements in spatial resolution and the use of new parallel computing resources, the required conditions can now be met in the global simulations using GGCM. The capability of including the ballooning instability of the near-Earth tail in global simulations with GGCM will allow the study of its interactions with major substorm processes, such as magnetic reconnection and bursty bulky flows (BBFs). The project will identify and quantify the roles of the ballooning-interchange instability and magnetic reconnection in the global development of the current sheet during substorm conditions. The project integrates teaching and research at all levels, from high-school students to junior researchers. It includes participation in a summer institute at the University of New Hampshire called Project SMART (Science and Mathematics Achievement through Research Training) which provides research experiences for high school students. The project is also part of a pilot summer internship program for undergraduates in their junior and senior years.