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Subauroral polarization streams (SAPS) typically refer to an enhanced westward plasma flow channel in the duskside subauroral ionosphere. SAPS overlap with the low-latitude part of downward Region-2 field-aligned currents (FACs). The relatively low subauroral conductance in this region requires a strong electric field for current closure, which drives the fast sunward plasma flow. Observations have shown dynamic variability of SAPS under various solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) conditions, which are related to the variability of FACs and auroral precipitation, as well as their source regions in the ring current and plasmasheet. In this study, we use satellite observations and numerical simulations with the state-of-the-art Multiscale Atmosphere Geospace Environment (MAGE) model to investigate: 1) The role of diffuse electron precipitation in the formation of SAPS; 2) SAPS variability under IMF BY; and 3) Dawnside (as opposed to the more conventional duskside) SAPS as a unique feature of major geomagnetic storms. With data-model comparison, we will demonstrate that SAPS result from the different behaviors of ring current ions and plasma sheet electrons, and the corresponding self-consistent response of the ionosphere-thermosphere system via electrodynamic and particle coupling with the magnetosphere. We conclude that SAPS distribution and variability represent a fundamental feature of the geospace response to solar disturbances during storm time.

The role of diffuse electron precipitation in forming subauroral polarization streams (SAPS) is investigated with the Multiscale Atmosphere-Geospace Environment (MAGE) model. Diffuse precipitation ...

Thermospheric mass density perturbations are commonly observed during geomagnetic storms. The sources of these perturbations have long been controversial. In this study, we investigated the thermos...

In cylindrical/spherical geometries, MHD solvers using explicit finite-volume methods face restrictive time steps imposed by the CFL condition due to the clustering of cells in the azimuthal direction near the pole/axis. We use a conservative averaging-reconstruction method (Ring Average) on structured cylindrical/spherical mesh to remove this severe time step restriction for multi-dimensional curvilinear finite-volume MHD solvers. The Ring Average technique is implemented as a post-processing step and thus requires no changes to the existing data structure, grid definition or numerical methods in the original MHD solver. This paper describes the Ring Average algorithm and presents simulation results using field loop advection and MHD blast waves in cylindrical/spherical geometries for validation. The algorithm is shown to be inexpensive and easily implemented in existing curvilinear finite-volume MHD solvers.

Explosive magnetotail activity has long been understood in the context of its auroral manifestations. While global models have been used to interpret and understand many magnetospheric processes, the temporal and spatial scales of some auroral forms have been inaccessible to global modeling creating a gulf between observational and theoretical studies of these phenomena. We present here an important step toward bridging this gulf using a newly developed global magnetosphere‐ionosphere model with resolution capturing ≲ 30 km azimuthal scales in the auroral zone. In a global magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation of the growth phase of a synthetic substorm, we find the self‐consistent formation and destabilization of localized magnetic field minima in the near‐Earth magnetotail. We demonstrate that this destabilization is due to ballooning‐interchange instability which drives earthward entropy bubbles with embedded magnetic fronts. Finally, we show that these bubbles create localized field‐aligned current structures that manifest in the ionosphere with properties matching observed auroral beads., Key Points We present the first global magnetosphere simulation to reveal ballooning‐interchange instability of a narrow Bz minimum in the near‐Earth magnetotailThe instability is prominent during the substorm growth phase and generates earthward entropy bubbles with embedded magnetic frontsThe bubbles drive mesoscale ionospheric field‐aligned currents and auroral structures (beads) with properties matching to those observed

We have conducted a series of controlled numerical simulations to investigate the response of dayside reconnection to idealized, ionosphere-sourced mass loading processes to determine whether they affect the integrated dayside reconnection rate. Our simulation results show that the coupled solar wind-magnetosphere (SW-M) system may exhibit both local and global control behaviors depending on the amount of mass loading. With a small amount of mass loading, the changes in local reconnection rate affects magnetosheath properties only weakly and the geoeffective length in the upstream solar wind is essentially unchanged, resulting in the same integrated dayside reconnection rate. With a large amount of mass loading, however, the magnetosheath properties and the geoeffective length are significantly affected by slowing down the local reconnection rate, resulting in an increase of the magnetic pressure in the magnetosheath, with a significant reduction in the geoeffective length in the upstream solar wind and in the integrated dayside reconnection rate. In this controlled simulation setup, the behavior of dayside reconnection potential is determined by the role of the enhanced magnetic pressure in the magnetospheath due to magnetospheric mass loading. The reconnection potential starts to decrease significantly when the enhanced magnetic pressure alters the thickness of the magnetosheath.

This material is based upon work supported by NASA grants NNX14AI13G, NNX13AF92G, and NNX16AB80G. The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation. This work used the XSEDE and TACC computational facilities, supported by National Science Foundation grant ACI-1053575. We would like to acknowledge high-performance computing support from Yellowstone (ark:/85065/d7wd3xhc) provided by NCAR's Computational and Information Systems Laboratory, sponsored by the National Science Foundation. We thank the AMPERE team and the AMPERE Science Center for providing the Iridium derived data products. All model output, simulation codes, and analysis routines are being preserved on the NCAR High-Performance Storage System and will be made available upon written request to the lead author of this publication. (NNX14AI13G - NASA; NNX13AF92G - NASA; NNX16AB80G - NASA; National Science Foundation; ACI-1053575 - National Science Foundation)

Two of the geomagnetic storms for the Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) Geospace Environment Modeling (GEM) challenge [cf. Pulkkinen et al., 2013] occurred after data were first acquired by the Active Magnetosphere and Planetary Electrodynamics Response Experiment (AMPERE). We compare Birkeland currents from AMPERE with predictions from four models for the 4-5 April 2010 and 5-6 August 2011 storms. The four models are: the Weimer [2005b] field-aligned current statistical model; the Lyon-Fedder-Mobarry magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation; the Open Global Geospace Circulation Model MHD simulation; and the Space Weather Modeling Framework MHD simulation. The MHD simulations were run as described in Pulkkinen et al. [2013] and the results obtained from the Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC). The total radial Birkeland current, ITotal, and the distribution of radial current density, Jr, for all models are compared with AMPERE results. While the total currents are well correlated, the quantitative agreement varies considerably. The Jr distributions reveal discrepancies between the models and observations related to the latitude distribution, morphologies, and lack of nightside current systems in the models. The results motivate enhancing the simulations first by increasing the simulation resolution, and then by examining the relative merits of implementing more sophisticated ionospheric conductance models, including ionospheric outflows or other omitted physical processes. Some aspects of the system, including substorm timing and location, may remain challenging to simulate, implying a continuing need for real-time specification.

Recently Gordeev et al. [2015] suggested a method to test global MHD models against statistical empirical data. They showed that four community-available global MHD models supported by the Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC) produce a reasonable agreement with reality for those key parameters (the magnetospheric size, magnetic field and pressure) that are directly related to the large-scale equilibria in the outer magnetosphere. Based on the same set of simulation runs, here we investigate how the models reproduce the global loading-unloading cycle. We found that in terms of global magnetic flux transport, three examined CCMC models display systematically different response to idealized 2h north then 2h south IMFBz variation. The LFM model shows a depressed return convection and high loading rate during the growth phase as well as enhanced return convection and high unloading rate during the expansion phase, with the amount of loaded/unloaded magnetotail flux and the growth phase duration being the closest to their observed empirical values during isolated substorms. Two other models exhibit drastically different behavior. In the BATS-R-US model the plasma sheet convection shows a smooth transition to the steady convection regime after the IMF southward turning. In the Open GGCM a weak plasma sheet convection has comparable intensities during both the growth phase and the following slow unloading phase. We also demonstrate potential technical problem in the publicly-available simulations which is related to post-processing interpolation and could affect the accuracy of magnetic field tracing and of other related procedures.

The Automated Radiation Measurements for Aerospace Safety (ARMAS) program has successfully deployed a fleet of six instruments measuring the ambient radiation environment at commercial aircraft altitudes. ARMAS transmits real-time data to the ground and provides quality, tissue-relevant ambient dose equivalent rates with 5-minute latency for dose rates on 213 flights up to 17.3 km (56,700 ft.). We show five cases from different aircraft; the source particles are dominated by Galactic Cosmic Rays but include particle fluxes for minor radiation periods and geomagnetically disturbed conditions. The measurements from 2013–2016 do not cover a period of time to quantify Galactic Cosmic Rays’ (GCRs) dependence on solar cycle variation and their effect on aviation radiation. However, we report on small radiation “clouds” in specific magnetic latitude regions and note that active geomagnetic, variable space weather conditions may sufficiently modify the magnetospheric magnetic field that can enhance the radiation environment, particularly at high altitudes and mid- to high-latitudes. When there is no significant space weather, high latitude flights produce a dose rate analogous to a chest X-ray every 12.5 hours, every 25 hours for mid-latitudes, and every 100 hours for equatorial latitudes at typical commercial flight altitudes of 37,000 ft. (~11 km). The dose rate doubles every 2 km altitude increase, suggesting a radiation event management strategy for pilots or air traffic control, i.e., where event-driven radiation regions can be identified, they can be treated like volcanic ash clouds to achieve radiation safety goals with slightly lower flight altitudes or more equatorial flight paths.

We present the first simulations of magnetospheric sawtooth oscillations under steady solar wind conditions that are driven internally by heavy ion outflow from a physics-based model. The simulations presented use the multifluid Lyon-Fedder-Mobarry magnetohydrodynamics model two-way coupled to the ionosphere/polar wind model (IPWM). Depending on the type of wave-particle interactions utilized within IPWM, the coupled simulations exhibit either sawtooth oscillations or steady magnetospheric convection. Contrasting the simulations that do and do not develop sawtooth oscillations yields insights into the relationship between outflow and sawtooth oscillations. The total outflow rate is not an adequate predictor of the convection mode that will emerge. The simulations that develop sawtooth oscillations are characterized by intense outflow concentrated in the midnight auroral region. This outflow distribution mass loads the tail reconnection region without excessively mass loading the dayside reconnection region and leads to an imbalance between the dayside and nightside reconnection rates.

Using three resolutions of the Lyon-Fedder-Mobarry global magnetosphere-ionosphere model (LFM) and the Weimer 2005 empirical model we examine the structure of the high latitude field-aligned current patterns. Each resolution was run for the entire Whole Heliosphere Interval which contained two high speed solar wind streams and modest interplanetary magnetic field strengths. Average states of the field-aligned current (FAC) patterns for 8 interplanetary magnetic field clock angle directions are computed using data from these runs. Generally speaking the patterns obtained agree well with results obtained from the Weimer 2005 computing using the solar wind and IMF conditions that correspond to each bin. As the simulation resolution increases the currents become more intense and narrow. A machine learning analysis of the FAC patterns shows that the ratio of Region 1 (R1) to Region 2 (R2) currents decreases as the simulation resolution increases. This brings the simulation results into better agreement with observational predictions and the Weimer 2005 model results. The increase in R2 current strengths also results in the cross polar cap potential (CPCP) pattern being concentrated in higher latitudes. Current-voltage relationships between the R1 and CPCP are quite similar at the higher resolution indicating the simulation is converging on a common solution. We conclude that LFM simulations are capable of reproducing the statistical features of FAC patterns.

We present the latest result of a community-wide space weather model validation effort coordinated among the Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC), NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC), model developers, and the broader science community. Validation of geospace models is a critical activity for both building confidence in the science results produced by the models and in assessing the suitability of the models for transition to operations. Indeed, a primary motivation of this work is supporting NOAA/SWPC's effort to select a model or models to be transitioned into operations. Our validation efforts focus on the ability of the models to reproduce a regional index of geomagnetic disturbance, the local K-index. Our analysis includes six events representing a range of geomagnetic activity conditions and six geomagnetic observatories representing midlatitude and high-latitude locations. Contingency tables, skill scores, and distribution metrics are used for the quantitative analysis of model performance. We consider model performance on an event-by-event basis, aggregated over events, at specific station locations, and separated into high-latitude and midlatitude domains. A summary of results is presented in this report, and an online tool for detailed analysis is available at the CCMC.

NNX14Al13G - NASA GCR; NASA LWS; NNX14AE06G; NNX15AB83G; NNX12AJ54G - NASA HGI; ACI-1053575 - National Science Foundation

This paper investigates the effects of magnetospheric mass loading on the control of dayside magnetic reconnection using global magnetospheric simulations. The study iys motivated by a recent debate on whether the integrated dayside magnetic reconnection rate is solely controlled by local processes (local-control theory) or global merging processes (global-control theory). The local-control theory suggests that the integrated dayside reconnection rate is controlled by the local plasma parameters. The global-control theory argues that the integrated rate is determined by the net force acting on the flow in the magnetosheath rather than the local microphysics. Controlled numerical simulations using idealized ionospheric outflow specifications suggest a possible mixed-control theory, that is, (1) a small amount of mass loading at the dayside magnetopause only redistributes local reconnection rate without a significant change in the integrated reconnection rate and (2) a large amount of mass loading reduces both local reconnection rates and the integrated reconnection rate on the dayside. The transition between global-controland local-control-dominated regimes depends on (but not limited to) the source region, the amount, the location, and the spatial extension of the mass loading at the dayside magnetopause.

Poynting flux into the ionosphere measures the electromagnetic energy coming from the magnetosphere. This energy flux can vary greatly between quiet times and geomagnetic active times. As part of the Geospace Environment Modeling-coupling energetics and dynamics of atmospheric regions modeling challenge, physics-based models of the 3-D ionosphere and ionospheric electrodynamics solvers of magnetosphere models that specify Joule heat and empirical models specifying Poynting flux were run for six geomagnetic storm events of varying intensity. We compared model results with Poynting flux values along the DMSP-15 satellite track computed from ion drift meter and magnetic field observations. Although being a different quantity, Joule heat can in practice be correlated to incoming Poynting flux because the energy is dissipated primarily in high latitudes where Poynting flux is being deposited. Within the physics-based model group, we find mixed results with some models overestimating Joule heat and some models agreeing better with observed Poynting flux rates as integrated over auroral passes. In contrast, empirical models tend to underestimate integrated Poynting flux values. Modeled Joule heat or Poynting flux patterns often resemble the observed Poynting flux patterns on a large scale, but amplitudes can differ by a factor of 2 or larger due to the highly localized nature of observed Poynting flux deposition that is not captured by the models. In addition, the positioning of modeled patterns appear to be randomly shifted against the observed Poynting flux energy input. This study is the first to compare Poynting flux and Joule heat in a large variety of models of the ionosphere.

Field-aligned currents (FACs) play an important role in the coupling between the ionosphere and magnetosphere. Numerical simulation of these phenomena is of increasing interest, but validation has been hampered by a lack of a formal framework to compare simulations to satellite-derived products. We develop a statistical approach to compare FAC simulations from global magnetohydrodynamical models against satellite products. We introduce a robust algorithm that automatically detects and defines regions 1 and 2 FACs. In an example, currents derived from the Iridium satellites are compared against simulated currents from two resolutions of the Lyon-Fedder-Mobarry model on one solar event. We assess both average and structured discrepancies, the former being a level shift of the physical model away from the satellite product, while structural discrepancy refers to time-varying, continuous differences. For this event, the lower resolution version of the Lyon-Fedder-Mobarry is shown to be a poor representation of the satellite-derived FACs, while the higher resolution version substantially reduces discrepancy.

We investigate the plasmaspheric influence on the resonant mode coupling of magnetospheric ultralow frequency (ULF) waves using the Lyon‐Fedder‐Mobarry (LFM) global magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model. We present results from two different versions of the model, both driven by the same solar wind conditions: one version that contains a plasmasphere (the LFM coupled to the Rice Convection Model, where the Gallagher plasmasphere model is also included) and another that does not (the stand‐alone LFM). We find that the inclusion of a cold, dense plasmasphere has a significant impact on the nature of the simulated ULF waves. For example, the inclusion of a plasmasphere leads to a deeper (more earthward) penetration of the compressional (azimuthal) electric field fluctuations, due to a shift in the location of the wave turning points. Consequently, the locations where the compressional electric field oscillations resonantly couple their energy into local toroidal mode field line resonances also shift earthward. We also find, in both simulations, that higher‐frequency compressional (azimuthal) electric field oscillations penetrate deeper than lower frequency oscillations. In addition, the compressional wave mode structure in the simulations is consistent with a radial standing wave oscillation pattern, characteristic of a resonant waveguide. The incorporation of a plasmasphere into the LFM global MHD model represents an advance in the state of the art in regard to ULF wave modeling with such simulations. We offer a brief discussion of the implications for radiation belt modeling techniques that use the electric and magnetic field outputs from global MHD simulations to drive particle dynamics., Key Points Magnetosphere responds as a resonant waveguide to ULF fluctuations in solar wind dynamic pressureInclusion of a plasmasphere has a substantial impact on the nature of the simulated ULF wavesInclusion of a plasmasphere leads to a deeper penetration of azimuthal electric field oscillations

Global magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) modeling is a powerful tool in space weather research and predictions. There are several advanced and still developing global MHD (GMHD) models that are publicly available via Community Coordinated Modeling Center's (CCMC) Run on Request system, which allows the users to simulate the magnetospheric response to different solar wind conditions including extraordinary events, like geomagnetic storms. Systematic validation of GMHD models against observations still continues to be a challenge, as well as comparative benchmarking of different models against each other. In this paper we describe and test a new approach in which (i) a set of critical large-scale system parameters is explored/tested, which are produced by (ii) specially designed set of computer runs to simulate realistic statistical distributions of critical solar wind parameters and are compared to (iii) observation-based empirical relationships for these parameters. Being tested in approximately similar conditions (similar inputs, comparable grid resolution, etc.), the four models publicly available at the CCMC predict rather well the absolute values and variations of those key parameters (magnetospheric size, magnetic field, and pressure) which are directly related to the large-scale magnetospheric equilibrium in the outer magnetosphere, for which the MHD is supposed to be a valid approach. At the same time, the models have systematic differences in other parameters, being especially different in predicting the global convection rate, total field-aligned current, and magnetic flux loading into the magnetotail after the north-south interplanetary magnetic field turning. According to validation results, none of the models emerges as an absolute leader. The new approach suggested for the evaluation of the models performance against reality may be used by model users while planning their investigations, as well as by model developers and those interesting to quantitatively evaluate progress in magnetospheric modeling.

Much of plasma heating and transport from the magnetotail into the inner magnetosphere occurs in the form of mesoscale discrete injections associated with sharp dipolarizations of magnetic field (dipolarization fronts). In this study we investigate the mechanisms of ion acceleration at dipolarization fronts in a high-resolution global magnetospheric MHD model (LFM). We use large-scale three-dimensional test-particle simulations (CHIMP) to address the following science questions: 1) what are the characteristic scales of dipolarization regions that can stably trap ions? 2) what role does the trapping play in ion transport and acceleration? 3) how does it depend on particle energy and distance from Earth? 4) to what extent ion acceleration is adiabatic? High-resolution LFM was run using idealized solar wind conditions with fixed nominal values of density and velocity and a southward IMF component of −5 nT. To simulate ion interaction with dipolarization fronts, a large ensemble of test particles distributed in energy, pitch-angle, and gyrophase was initialized inside one of the LFM dipolarization channels in the magnetotail. Full Lorentz ion trajectories were then computed over the course of the front inward propagation from the distance of 17 to 6 Earth radii. A large fraction of ions with different initial energies stayed in phase with the front over the entire distance. The effect of magnetic trapping at different energies was elucidated with a correlation of the ion guiding center and the ExB drift velocities. The role of trapping in ion energization was quantified by comparing the partial pressure of ions that exhibit trapping to the pressure of all trapped ions.

During geomagnetic storms the intensities of the outer radiation belt electron population can exhibit dramatic variability. In the main phase electron intensities exhibit deep depletion over a broad region of the outer belt. The intensities then increase during the recovery phase, often to levels that significantly exceed their pre-storm values. In this study we analyze the depletion, recovery and eventual enhancement of radiation belt intensities during the 2013 St. Patrick's day geomagnetic storm. We simulate the evolution of the high-energy electron population comprising the outer radiation belt using our newly-developed test particle radiation belt model (CHIMP) based on a hybrid guiding-center/Lorentz integrator and electromagnetic fields derived from a coupled 3D ring current and global MHD simulation (LFM-RCM). Our approach differs from previous work in that we use MHD information to identify regions of strong, bursty, and azimuthally localized Earthward convection in the magnetotail where test particles are then seeded. In other words, magnetospheric electromagnetic fields inform how test-particles evolve and the plasma flow informs where and when new test-particles are created. This is key to reproducing injection of energized plasma sheet electrons into the outer belt.

Coronal mass ejection (CME)-shock compression of the dayside magnetopause has been observed to cause both prompt enhancement of radiation belt electron flux due to inward radial transport of electrons conserving their first adiabatic invariant and prompt losses which at times entirely eliminate the outer zone. Recent numerical studies suggest that enhanced ultra-low frequency (ULF) wave activity is necessary to explain electron losses deeper inside the magnetosphere than magnetopause incursion following CME-shock arrival. A combination of radial transport and magnetopause shadowing can account for losses observed at radial distances into L = 4.5, well within the computed magnetopause location. We compare ULF wave power from the Electric Field and Waves (EFW) electric field instrument on the Van Allen Probes for the 8 October 2013 storm with ULF wave power simulated using the Lyon–Fedder–Mobarry (LFM) global magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) magnetospheric simulation code coupled to the Rice Convection Model (RCM). Two other storms with strong magnetopause compression, 8–9 October 2012 and 17–18 March 2013, are also examined. We show that the global MHD model captures the azimuthal magnetosonic impulse propagation speed and amplitude observed by the Van Allen Probes which is responsible for prompt acceleration at MeV energies reported for the 8 October 2013 storm. The simulation also captures the ULF wave power in the azimuthal component of the electric field, responsible for acceleration and radial transport of electrons, at frequencies comparable to the electron drift period. This electric field impulse has been shown to explain observations in related studies (Foster et al., 2015) of electron acceleration and drift phase bunching by the Energetic Particle, Composition, and Thermal Plasma Suite (ECT) instrument on the Van Allen Probes.

The efficiencies of pathways of thermospheric heating via soft electron precipitation in the dayside cusp region are investigated using the coupled magnetosphere-ionosphere-thermosphere model (CMIT). Event-based data-model comparisons show that the CMIT model is capable of reproducing the thermospheric mass density variations measured by the CHAMP satellite during both quite and active periods. During the 24 August 2005 storm event (Kp = 6−) while intense Joule heating rate occurs in the polar cusp region, including soft electron precipitation is important for accurately modeling the F region thermospheric mass density distribution near the cusp region. During the 27 July 2007 event (Kp = 2−) while little Joule heating rate occurs in the polar cusp region, the controlled CMIT simulations suggest that the direct pathway through the energy exchange between soft electrons and thermospheric neutrals is the dominant process during this event, which only has a small effect on the neutral temperature and mass density at 400 km altitude. Comparisons between the two case studies show that the indirect pathway via increasing the F region Joule heating rate is a dominant process during the 24 August 2005 storm event, which is much more efficient than the direct heating process.

Initial demonstrations of an ionosphere/polar wind model including a phenomenological treatment of transverse heating by wave particle interactions (WPIs) are presented. Tests with fixed WPI parameters in a designated heating region on the dayside with time-varying convection show that the parameters of the resulting nonthermal ion outflow are strongly coupled to the convection. The hemispheric outflow rate is positively correlated with the convection speed with a time delay related to the travel time to the upper boundary. Increases in convection increase the thermal plasma access to the heating region, both by increasing the upflow associated with frictional heating and by increasing the horizontal transport. The average parallel velocities and energies of the escaping nonthermal ions are anticorrelated with the convection speed due to the finite dwell time in the heating region. The computationally efficient model can be readily coupled into global geospace modeling frameworks in the future.

The phenomena of cross polar cap potential (CPCP) and ionospheric field-aligned current (FAC) saturation remain largely unexplained. In the present study, we expand upon the Alfven wing model of CPCP saturation by investigating its impact on the magnetosphere-ionosphere current system, particularly the Region 1 FAC input into the polar cap. Our hypothesis is that the ability of open flux tubes to deform in response to applied fluid stress from the magnetosheath is governed by the magnetosheath plasma beta, which in turn governs the Maxwell stress imposed on ionospheric plasma from the magnetosphere. We performed 32 MHD simulations with varying solar wind density and interplanetary magnetic field strength and show that the plasma beta does govern the deformation of open field lines, as well as the nonlinear response of the Region 1 FAC system to increasingly southward interplanetary magnetic field. Further, we show that the current-voltage relationship in the ionosphere also shows a dependence on the plasma beta in the magnetosheath, with the ionosphere becoming more resistive at lower beta.

The Van Allen Probes spacecraft have provided detailed observations of the energetic particles and fields environment for coronal mass ejection (CME)-shock-driven storms in 2012 to 2013 which have now been modeled with MHD test particle simulations. The Van Allen Probes orbital plane longitude moved from the dawn sector in 2012 to near midnight and prenoon for equinoctial storms of 2013, providing particularly good measurements of the inductive electric field response to magnetopause compression for the 8 October 2013 CME-shock-driven storm. An abrupt decrease in the outer boundary of outer zone electrons coincided with inward motion of the magnetopause for both 17 March and 8 October 2013 storms, as was the case for storms shortly after launch. Modeling magnetopause dropout events in 2013 with electric field diagnostics that were not available for storms immediately following launch have improved our understanding of the complex role that ULF waves play in radial transport during such events.

General methods for improving the specification of electron precipitation in global simulations are described and implemented in the Lyon-Fedder-Mobarry (LFM) global simulation model, and the quality of its predictions for precipitation is assessed. LFM's existing diffuse and monoenergetic electron precipitation models are improved, and new models are developed for lower energy, broadband, and direct-entry cusp precipitation. The LFM simulation results for combined diffuse plus monoenergetic electron precipitation exhibit a quadratic increase in the hemispheric precipitation power as the intensity of solar wind driving increases, in contrast with the prediction from the OVATION Prime (OP) 2010 empirical precipitation model which increases linearly with driving intensity. Broadband precipitation power increases approximately linearly with driving intensity in both models. Comparisons of LFM and OP predictions with estimates of precipitating power derived from inversions of Polar satellite UVI images during a double substorm event (28–29 March 1998) show that the LFM peak precipitating power is >4× larger when using the improved precipitation model and most closely tracks the larger of three different inversion estimates. The OP prediction most closely tracks the double peaks in the intermediate inversion estimate, but it overestimates the precipitating power between the two substorms by a factor >2 relative to all other estimates. LFMs polar pattern of precipitating energy flux tracks that of OP for broadband precipitation exhibits good correlation with duskside region 1 currents for monoenergetic energy flux that OP misses and fails to produce sufficient diffuse precipitation power in the prenoon quadrant that is present in OP. The prenoon deficiency is most likely due to the absence of drift kinetic physics in the LFM simulation.

A method for specifying low-altitude or inner boundary conditions that conserve low-frequency, magnetic field-aligned, electromagnetic energy flux across the boundary in global magnetospheric magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) models is presented. The single-fluid Lyon-Fedder-Mobarry (LFM) model is used to verify this method, with comparisons between simulations using LFM's standard hardwall boundary conditions and the new flux-conserving boundary conditions. Identical idealized upstream solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field conditions and the same constant ionospheric conductance are used in both runs. The results show that, compared to LFM's standard hardwall boundary conditions, the flux-conserving method improves the transparency of the boundary for the flow of low-frequency (essentially DC) electromagnetic energy flux along field lines. As a consequence, the hemispheric integrated field-aligned DC Poynting flux just above the boundary is close to the hemispheric total Joule heating of the ionosphere, as it should be if electromagnetic energy is conserved. The MHD velocity and perpendicular currents are well-behaved near the inner boundary for the flux conserving boundary conditions.

This paper presents the results of a modeling study on the formation of the Harang reversal (HR) during a steady magnetospheric convection event. The Harang reversal is identified as the boundary of the northward and southward electric field in the nightside auroral zone using the Assimilative Mapping of Ionospheric Electrodynamics (AMIE) procedure. We simulate the event with the Rice Convection Model-Equilibrium (RCM-E) by adjusting its boundary conditions to approximately match Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) and GOES observations in the nightside magnetosphere. Our results show that the HR is collocated with an upward region 1 field-aligned current, where converging ionospheric currents cause a southward/northward electric field on the poleward/equatorward side of the HR. Our results also indicate that the electric field reversal is slightly poleward of the ionospheric east–west current reversal and is to the northeast of the ground magnetic reversal, which is consistent with previous observations. We also test the sensitivity of the HR formation to a variety of parameters in the RCM-E simulations. We find that (1) the reduction of the flux tube entropy parameter PV5/3 near the midnight sector plays a major role in the formation of the HR; (2) a run carried out assuming uniform conductance produced the same major features as the run with more realistic precipitation-enhanced conductance; and (3) the detailed pattern of the polar cap potential distribution plays a minor role, but its dawn-dusk asymmetry significantly controls the location of the HR with respect to midnight. The RCM-E simulations also predict PV5/3 and flow distributions associated with the magnetospheric source of the HR in the plasma sheet, which can be further tested against observations.

Summary The Lyon–Fedder–Mobarry global magnetosphere–ionosphere coupled model LFM-MIX is used to study Sun–Earth interactions by simulating geomagnetic storms. This work focuses on relating the multifidelity output from LFM-MIX to field observations of ionospheric conductance. Given a set of input values and solar wind data, LFM-MIX numerically solves the magnetohydrodynamic equations and outputs a bivariate spatiotemporal field of ionospheric energy and flux. Of particular interest here are LFM-MIX input settings required to match corresponding output with field observations. To estimate these input settings, a multivariate spatiotemporal statistical LFM-MIX emulator is constructed. The statistical emulator leverages the multiple fidelities such that the less computationally demanding yet lower fidelity LFM-MIX is used to provide estimates of the higher fidelity output. The higher fidelity LFM-MIX output is then used for calibration by using additive and non-linear discrepancy functions.

The effects of solar wind driving conditions on the polar distribution of large-scale, nondispersive Alfvenic Poynting flux at low altitude during steady magnetosphere convections are studied using three-dimensional global simulations of the solar wind-magnetosphere-ionosphere interaction. Results from 18 test simulations driven by steady upstream solar wind (SW) and interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) conditions are used to investigate the relationship between SW/IMF driving and low-altitude signatures of large-scale Alfvenic Poynting flux. When the IMF is southward, the intensity of the Alfvenic Poynting flux increases, and the hemispheric integrated Alfvenic Poynting flux exhibits a linear relation with the SW electric field. When the IMF has a By component, the simulated hemispheric Alfvenic power does not fit to the same linear relation. During steady IMF By driving conditions, the low-altitude regions with enhanced Alfvenic Poynting flux are magnetically connected with magnetospheric dynamo regions on both open and closed field lines. The physical origin of low-altitude Alfvenic Poynting flux connecting to the closed field line region is similar with that during southward IMF Bz driving. However, the Alfvenic Poynting flux flowing from the open field line dynamo region may be related to the physical process on the magnetopause, and only shear-mode waves are generated.

Three radiation belt flux dropout events seen by the Relativistic Electron Proton Telescope soon after launch of the Van Allen Probes in 2012 (Baker et al., 2013a) have been simulated using the Lyon-Fedder-Mobarry MHD code coupled to the Rice Convection Model, driven by measured upstream solar wind parameters. MHD results show inward motion of the magnetopause for each event, along with enhanced ULF wave power affecting radial transport. Test particle simulations of electron response on 8 October, prior to the strong flux enhancement on 9 October, provide evidence for loss due to magnetopause shadowing, both in energy and pitch angle dependence. Severe plasmapause erosion occurred during ~ 14 h of strongly southward interplanetary magnetic field Bz beginning 8 October coincident with the inner boundary of outer zone depletion.