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

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。该项目的目标是更好地了解稳定的磁层对流（SMC）过程中所涉及的磁层过程。这项研究有两个主要科学目标，一是调查稳定磁层对流事件期间爆发性整体流动的作用，二是调查为什么磁层进入稳定的能量转移模式而不是振荡模式（“振荡”模式）。第二个目标将被分解为两个子部分，第一个将比较具有BBF的活跃SMC与全球振荡。第二个部分将比较引发SMC的亚暴与发生SMC事件时的第一次喷射。在研究主要目标之前，必须创建一种改进的、更鲁棒的方法来识别SMC。将测试三种不同的方法。一旦选择了一种方法，将生成SMC的综合列表。该列表也将与地球空间环境建模（GEM）社区共享，以便其他人也可以调查这些事件并将其与其他能量传输模式进行比较。通过研究SMC的具体方面，并将其与磁层振荡进行比较，这项研究将增加对SMC以及磁层如何进入稳定状态的理解。虽然以前对SMCs和其他磁层迁移模式的研究主要侧重于太阳风驱动因素，但本项目将研究在确定磁层何时以及为何进入不同能量转移模式方面发挥作用的磁层参数。 确定SMC的新方法不仅可以创建更全面的SMC列表，还将有助于在未来找到SMC。本次调查期间创建的SMC名单将与GEM社区共享。该清单将有助于对SMC事件进行更深入的研究，并将SMC与其他能源运输方式进行比较研究。

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.