Darren L. de Zeeuw

Space Weather Modeling Framework: A new tool for the space science community

[1] The Space Weather Modeling Framework (SWMF) provides a high-performance flexible framework for physics-based space weather simulations, as well as for various space physics applications. The SWMF integrates numerical models of the Solar Corona, Eruptive Event Generator, Inner Heliosphere, Solar Energetic Particles, Global Magnetosphere, Inner Magnetosphere, Radiation Belt, Ionosphere Electrodynamics, and Upper Atmosphere into a high-performance coupled model. The components can be represented with alternative physics models, and any physically meaningful subset of the components can be used. The components are coupled to the control module via standardized interfaces, and an efficient parallel coupling toolkit is used for the pairwise coupling of the components. The execution and parallel layout of the components is controlled by the SWMF. Both sequential and concurrent execution models are supported. The SWMF enables simulations that were not possible with the individual physics models. Using reasonably high spatial and temporal resolutions in all of the coupled components, the SWMF runs significantly faster than real time on massively parallel supercomputers. This paper presents the design and implementation of the SWMF and some demonstrative tests. Future papers will describe validation (comparison of model results with measurements) and applications to challenging space weather events. The SWMF is publicly available to the scientific community for doing geophysical research. We also intend to expand the SWMF in collaboration with other model developers.

Adaptive numerical algorithms in space weather modeling

Space weather describes the various processes in the Sun-Earth system that present danger to human health and technology. The goal of space weather forecasting is to provide an opportunity to mitigate these negative effects. Physics-based space weather modeling is characterized by disparate temporal and spatial scales as well as by different relevant physics in different domains. A multi-physics system can be modeled by a software framework comprising several components. Each component corresponds to a physics domain, and each component is represented by one or more numerical models. The publicly available Space Weather Modeling Framework (SWMF) can execute and couple together several components distributed over a parallel machine in a flexible and efficient manner. The framework also allows resolving disparate spatial and temporal scales with independent spatial and temporal discretizations in the various models. Several of the computationally most expensive domains of the framework are modeled by the Block-Adaptive Tree Solarwind Roe-type Upwind Scheme (BATS-R-US) code that can solve various forms of the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations, including Hall, semi-relativistic, multi-species and multi-fluid MHD, anisotropic pressure, radiative transport and heat conduction. Modeling disparate scales within BATS-R-US is achieved by a block-adaptive mesh both in Cartesian and generalized coordinates. Most recently we have created a new core for BATS-R-US: the Block-Adaptive Tree Library (BATL) that provides a general toolkit for creating, load balancing and message passing in a 1, 2 or 3 dimensional block-adaptive grid. We describe the algorithms of BATL and demonstrate its efficiency and scaling properties for various problems. BATS-R-US uses several time-integration schemes to address multiple time-scales: explicit time stepping with fixed or local time steps, partially steady-state evolution, point-implicit, semi-implicit, explicit/implicit, and fully implicit numerical schemes. Depending on the application, we find that different time stepping methods are optimal. Several of the time integration schemes exploit the block-based granularity of the grid structure. The framework and the adaptive algorithms enable physics-based space weather modeling and even short-term forecasting.

Global three-dimensional MHD simulation of a space weather event: CME formation, interplanetary propagation, and interaction with the magnetosphere

A parallel adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) finite-volume scheme for predicting ideal MHD flows is used to simulate the initiation, structure, and evolution of a coronal mass ejection (CME) and its interaction with the magnetosphere-ionosphere system. The simulated CME is driven by a local plasma density enhancement on the solar surface with the background initial state of the corona and solar wind represented by a newly devised “steady state” solution. The initial solution has been constructed to provide a reasonable description of the time-averaged solar wind for conditions near solar minimum: (1) the computed magnetic field near the Sun possesses high-latitude polar coronal holes, closed magnetic field flux tubes at low latitudes, and a helmet streamer structure with a neutral line and current sheet; (2) the Archimedean spiral topology of the interplanetary magnetic field is reproduced; (3) the observed two-state nature of the solar wind is also reproduced with the simulation yielding fast and slow solar wind streams at high and low latitudes, respectively; and (4) the predicted solar wind plasma properties at 1 AU are consistent with observations. Starting with the generation of a CME at the Sun, the simulation follows the evolution of the solar wind disturbance as it evolves into a magnetic cloud and travels through interplanetary space and subsequently interacts with the terrestrial magnetosphere-ionosphere system. The density-driven CME exhibits a two-step release process, with the front of the CME rapidly accelerating following the disruption of the near-Sun closed magnetic field line structure and then moving at a nearly constant speed of ∼560 km/s through interplanetary space. The CME also produces a large magnetic cloud (> 100 RS across) characterized by a magnetic field that smoothly rotates northward and then back again over a period of ∼2 days at 1 AU. The cloud does not contain a sustained period with a strong southward component of the magnetic field, and, as a consequence, the simulated CME is somewhat ineffective in generating strong geo-magnetic activity at Earth. Nevertheless, the simulation results illustrate the potential, as well as current limitations, of the MHD-based space weather model for enhancing the understanding of coronal physics, solar wind plasma processes, magnetospheric physics, and space weather phenomena. Such models will provide the foundation for future, more comprehensive space weather prediction tools.

Three-dimensional multiscale MHD model of cometary plasma environments

First results of a three-dimensional multiscale MHD model of the interaction of an expanding cometary atmosphere with the magnetized solar wind are presented. The model starts with a supersonic and super-Alfvenic solar wind far upstream of the comet (25 Gm upstream of the nucleus) with arbitrary interplanetary magnetic field orientation. The solar wind is continuously mass loaded with cometary ions originating from a 10-km size nucleus. The effects of photoionization, electron impact ionization, recombination, and ion-neutral frictional drag are taken into account in the model. The governing equations are solved on an adaptively refined unstructured Cartesian grid using our new multiscale upwind scalar conservation laws-type numerical technique (MUSCL). We have named this the multiscale adaptive upwind scheme for MHD (MAUS-MHD). The combination of the adaptive refinement with the MUSCL-scheme allows the entire cometary atmosphere to be modeled, while still resolving both the shock and the diamagnetic cavity of the comet. The main findings are the following: (1) Mass loading decelerates the solar wind flow upstream of the weak cometary shock wave (M ≈ 2, MA ≈ 2), which forms at a subsolar standoff distance of about 0.35 Gm. (2) A cometary plasma cavity is formed at around 3 × 103 km from the nucleus. Inside this cavity the plasma expands outward due to the frictional interaction between ions and neutrals. On the nightside this plasma cavity considerably narrows and a relatively fast and dense cometary plasma beam is ejected into the tail. (3) Inside the plasma cavity a teardrop-shaped inner shock is formed, which is terminated by a Mach disk on the nightside. Only the region inside the inner shock is the “true” diamagnetic cavity. (4) The model predicts four distinct current systems in the inner coma: the density peak current, the cavity boundary current, the inner shock current, and finally the cross-tail current. (5) The calculated plasma parameters (magnetic field, plasma density, speed, and temperature) are in very good agreement with published Giotto observations.

Three-dimensional MHD Simulation of the 2003 October 28 Coronal Mass Ejection: Comparison with LASCO Coronagraph Observations

We numerically model the coronal mass ejection (CME) event of 2003 October 28 that erupted from AR 10486 and propagated to Earth in less than 20 hr, causing severe geomagnetic storms. The magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model is formulated by first arriving at a steady state corona and solar wind employing synoptic magnetograms. We initiate two CMEs from the same active region, one approximately a day earlier that preconditions the solar wind for the much faster CME on the 28th. This second CME travels through the corona at a rate of over 2500 km s−1, driving a strong forward shock. We clearly identify this shock in an image produced by the Large Angle Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO) C3 and reproduce the shock and its appearance in synthetic white-light images from the simulation. We find excellent agreement with both the general morphology and the quantitative brightness of the model CME with LASCO observations. These results demonstrate that the CME shape is largely determined by its interaction with the ambient solar wind and may not be sensitive to the initiation process. We then show how the CME would appear as observed by wide-angle coronagraphs on board the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) spacecraft. We find complex time evolution of the white-light images as a result of the way in which the density structures pass through the Thomson sphere. The simulation is performed with the Space Weather Modeling Framework (SWMF).

An adaptive MHD method for global space weather simulations

A 3D parallel adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) scheme is described for solving the partial-differential equations governing ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flows. This new algorithm adopts a cell-centered upwind finite-volume discretization procedure and uses limited solution reconstruction, approximate Riemann solvers, and explicit multi-stage time stepping to solve the MHD equations in divergence form, providing a combination of high solution accuracy and computational robustness across a large range in the plasma /spl beta/ (/spl beta/ is the ratio of thermal and magnetic pressures). The data structure naturally lends itself to domain decomposition, thereby enabling efficient and scalable implementations on massively parallel supercomputers. Numerical results for MHD simulations of magnetospheric plasma flows are described to demonstrate the validity and capabilities of the approach for space weather applications.

Pickup oxygen ion velocity space and spatial distribution around Mars

[1] We report a newly created highly parallelized global test particle model for resolving the pickup oxygen ion distribution around Mars. The background magnetic and convection electric fields are calculated using a three-dimensional multispecies magnetohydrodynamic model, which includes the effect of the Martian crustal magnetic field. In addition to photo-ionization, charge exchange collisions and solar wind electron impact ionization are included for the pickup ion generation. The most novel feature of our model is that more than one billion test particles are launched in the simulation domain in total. This corresponds to a profound enhancement by at least 3 orders of magnitude in the total number, compared to all existing test particle models. This substantial improvement enables an unprecedented examination of the pickup ion flux distribution in velocity space, which is not achievable in previous simulation studies due to the insufficient statistics arising from the limited number of test particles. Using the velocity space distribution of pickup O + ions as a tool, the Mars-solar wind interaction can be investigated in a unique way. It is shown that the velocity space distribution is highly non-Maxwellian, exhibiting non-gyrotropic and non-symmetric distributions, including many beam-like features. In the tail region, pickup ions have a prominent outflowing component in the whole energy range. The energy examination of particles traveling across the tail region shows that the acceleration highly depends on the source region where the particles originate. The strong convection electric field in the magnetosheath region is favorable to the pickup ion acceleration.

Understanding storm‐time ring current development through data‐model comparisons of a moderate storm

[1] With three components, global magnetosphere (GM), inner magnetosphere (IM), and ionospheric electrodynamics (IE), in the Space Weather Modeling Framework (SWMF), the moderate storm on 19 May 2002 is globally simulated over a 24-hour period that includes the sudden storm commencement (SSC), initial phase, and main phase of the storm. Simulation results are validated by comparison with in situ observations from Geotail, GOES 8, GOES 10, Polar, LANL MPA, and the Sym-H and Dst indices. It is shown that the SWMF is reaching a sophistication level for allowing quantitative comparison with the observations. Major storm characteristics at the SSC, in the initial phase, and in the main phase are successfully reproduced. The simulated plasma parameters exhibit obvious dawn-dusk asymmetries or symmetries in the ring current region: higher density near the dawn and higher temperature in the afternoon and premidnight sectors; the pressure is highest on the nightside and exhibits a near dawn-dusk symmetry. In addition, it is found in this global modeling that the upstream solar wind/ IMF conditions control the storm activity and an important plasma source of the ring current is in the solar wind. However, the ionospheric outflow can also affect the ring current development, especially in the main phase. Activity in the high-latitude ionosphere is also produced reasonably well. However, the modeled cross polar cap potential drop (CPCP) in the Southern Hemisphere is almost always significantly larger than that in the Northern Hemisphere during the May storm.

Axisymmetric modeling of cometary mass loading on an adaptively refined grid: MHD results

The first results of an axisymmetric MHD model of the interaction of an expanding cometary atmosphere with the solar wind are presented. The model assumes that far upstream the plasma flow lines are parallel to the magnetic field vector. The effects of mass loading and ion-neutral friction are taken into account by the governing equations, which are solved on an adaptively refined unstructured grid using a MUSCL-type numerical technique. The combination of the adaptive refinement with the MUSCL-scheme allows the entire cometary atmosphere to be modeled, while still resolving both the shock and the near nucleus of the comet. The main findings are the following: (1) A shock is formed ≈ 0.45 Mkm upstream of the comet (its location is controlled by the sonic and Alfvenic Mach numbers of the ambient solar wind flow and by the cometary mass addition rate). (2) A contact surface is formed ≈ 5,600 km upstream of the nucleus separating an outward expanding cometary ionosphere from the nearly stagnating solar wind flow. The location of the contact surface is controlled by the upstream flow conditions, the mass loading rate and the ion-neutral drag. The contact surface is also the boundary of the diamagnetic cavity. (3) A closed inner shock terminates the supersonic expansion of the cometary ionosphere. This inner shock is closer to the nucleus on dayside than on the nightside.

A three-dimensional MHD study of solar wind mass loading processes at Venus: Effects of photoionization, electron impact ionization, and charge exchange

Ionization of hot and cold planetary oxygen ions caused by solar radiation, electron impact, and charge exchange with the solar wind protons lead to a heavy plasma population near Venus which is accelerated and incorporated into the solar wind plasma. lonization of hot and cold hydrogen also enhances the solar wind density and reduces its momentum. Charge exchange of the solar wind plasma with hot and cold planetary hydrogen removes a part of this heavy ion population. We include these processes in a three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model of the solar wind interaction with Venus and analyze their impact on the magnetic and flow field geometry around Venus. We find that photoionization is the most important of these processes if the change in the plasma composition is taken into account. The ionization processes lead to a strong deceleration of the flow around the planet, which in turn results in changes of the magnetic field. Because of the increasing mean mass and density of the plasma near the ionopause velocity gradients develop in the near terminator region, which lead to a local increase of the magnetic field. The inclusion of mass loading in our model moves the bow shock position outward, close to the location observed by the Pioneer Venus Orbiter magnetometer at solar maximum.