HR: 0800h
AN: SA21A-0291 [Abstracts]
TI: Self-consistent Modeling of Magnetic Fields and Plasmas in the Inner Magnetosphere During Geomagnetic
Storms
AU: Janzen, P H
EM: pjanzen@lanl.gov
AF: Los Alamos National Laboratory, MS D466, P.O. Box 1663, Los Alamos, NM 87545
United States
AU: * Zaharia, S G
EM: szaharia@lanl.gov
AF: Los Alamos National Laboratory, MS D466, P.O. Box 1663, Los Alamos, NM 87545
United States
AU: Jordanova, V K
EM: vania.jordanova@unh.edu
AF: University of New Hampshire, Morse Hall Rm. 410, Durham, NH 03824
United States
AU: Thomsen, M F
EM: mthomsen@lanl.gov
AF: Los Alamos National Laboratory, MS D466, P.O. Box 1663, Los Alamos, NM 87545
United States
AU: Reeves, G D
EM: gdreeves@lanl.gov
AF: Los Alamos National Laboratory, MS D466, P.O. Box 1663, Los Alamos, NM 87545
United States
AB:
Observations as well as computational simulations show that during a magnetic storm the magnetic field in the inner
magnetosphere on the night side can be very stretched compared to a dipole. This is why a magnetically self-consistent
treatment of plasma transport is crucial during such events. In this work we extend our previous ``1-way'' coupling between a
kinetic ring current model and a magnetospheric equilibrium model (in which force-balanced fields are computed using the
pressures from the kinetic model) to a fully magnetically self-consistent approach in which the force-balanced fields are fed
back into the kinetic model to guide its continued evolution. The self-consistent approach is then applied to the simulation
of the April 22, 2001 storm, one of the GEM Storm Challenge events. The results use boundary and initial conditions for the
kinetic model from several spacecraft, as well as magnetic flux boundary conditions for the equilibrium model from the
empirical model of the geomagnetic field T89. The results obtained with this self-consistent approach are fundamentally
different from runs of the kinetic model with a dipolar background. The most significant features of the self-consistent
results are lower plasma transport and plasma pressure in the inner magnetosphere (about half of that obtained with the
dipole) and local, narrow pressure peaks as well as significantly enhanced plasma β in localized regions on the night
side.
DE: 2730 Magnetosphere: inner
DE: 2753 Numerical modeling
DE: 2778 Ring current
DE: 2788 Magnetic storms and substorms (7954)
DE: 2799 General or miscellaneous
SC: SPA-Aeronomy [SA]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005