HR: 11:20h
AN: SH51B-05    [PDF]
TI: Global MHD Simulation Study of Joule Heating in the Polar Ionosphere
AU: * Slinker, S P
EM: slinker@ppdmail.nrl.navy.mil
AF: Plasma Physics Div., Naval Research Lab., Washington, DC 20375 United States
AU: Fedder, J A
EM: fedder@ppdmail.nrl.navy.mil
AF: Inst. for Computational Sciences and Informatics, George Mason Univ., Fairfax, VA 22030 United States
AU: Lyon, J G
EM: lyon@tinman.dartmouth.edu
AF: Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755 United States
AB: Energy from the solar wind is transferred to the magnetosphere and drives currents in the polar ionosphere. The resistive or Joule heating produced by these currents can be on the order of a terrawatt during an intense geomagnetic disturbance. Joule heating can change the scale height of the upper atmosphere affecting spacecraft orbits. We use a global, 3D, MHD magnetosphere model to study this process. We will show the dependence of the magnitude and spatial distribution of Joule heating on the strength and direction of the interplanetary field, the season of the year, the solar wind ram pressure, and the solar output. Work supported by the NASA LWS program and the NAVO HPC center.
DE: 7843 Numerical simulation studies
SC: SPA - Solar and Heliospheric Physics [SH]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting