Quantitative Simulation of a Magnetospheric Substorm. 1. Model Logic and Overview,

Harel, M.; Wolf, R. A.; Spiro, R. W.; Reiff, P. H.; Chen, C. K.; Burke, William J.; Rich, F. J.; Smiddy, M.

doi:10.21236/ada087699

Cited by 78 publications

(93 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…The Rice Convection Model (RCM) was originally designed to calculate the adiabatic motions of charged particles through the plasma sheet and inner magnetosphere, in a way that treated coupling to the ionosphere self‐consistently (Harel et al, ; Wolf, ). It was based on a picture of large‐scale magnetospheric convection wherein the plasma sheet flowed sunward more or less uniformly, except that it diverted around the Earth.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Inertialized Rice Convection Model

et al. 2019

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The Rice Convection Model (RCM) is an established first‐principles physics model in which the field‐aligned current density is computed by the Vasyliunas equation. Its slow‐flow assumption neglects the inertial term in the MHD momentum equation, which is a major obstacle to using the RCM to model some of the fluid dynamics of bursty bulk flows in the plasma sheet. This paper describes the RCM‐I, which represents an effort to approximately add inertial effects in the RCM by correcting the expression for field‐aligned currents. That inertial current is calculated under the assumption that the mass on each field line is concentrated near the equatorial plane. RCM‐I results are presented with magnetic fields calculated in two different ways: A static statistics‐based model and an MHD code. In both cases, the bubble flow velocities are much smaller and more realistic than those calculated from the traditional RCM. An additional promising feature is that the injection of a low‐entropy bubble produces interchange (braking) oscillations and buoyancy waves that radiate away from the original bubble, forming multiple flow vortices. None of these features could be produced by traditional RCM simulations. Comparison simulations also suggest that gradient and curvature drifts have substantial effect on oscillation of bubbles and tend to damp buoyancy waves. We also note that substantial work will be needed in the future to further improve the pressure distribution by inertializing an anisotropic version of the RCM and to understand the effects of neglecting the magnetosphere‐ionosphere communication time.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Inertialized Rice Convection Model

et al. 2019

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“…This weakening of the low‐latitude electric field is called shielding and is a common feature of the electric field during disturbed conditions [e.g., Rowland and Wygant 1998]. However, it is also clear, both from observations [e.g., Fejer et al , 1990; Fejer and Scherliess , 1995, 1997; Burke et al , 1998] and computer simulations [e.g., Jaggi and Wolf , 1973; Harel et al , 1981a; Senior and Blanc , 1984; Spiro et al , 1988; Wolf et al , 1982, 1991] that the shielding is highly dynamic and not always effective.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Numerical experiments on the inner magnetospheric electric field

Garner¹

2003

J. Geophys. Res.

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[1] Inner magnetospheric electric fields are often complicated by a reduction of the total electric field at low-latitudes called shielding and an intensification of the electric field equatorward of the auroral oval called a subauroral polarization stream (SAPS). To better understand the stormtime behavior of these electric fields, computer experiments have been conducted using the Rice Convection Model (RCM). The RCM computes the Region-2 Birkeland currents and the inner magnetospheric electric field and particle distribution. It uses as input a magnetic field and the plasma sheet pressure and energy distribution and assumes that particle loss is negligible. The base or control run used realistic model inputs, while the experiments varied fundamental model inputs to test the electric field's sensitivity to magnetospheric conditions. The first experiment is a high-pressure or dense plasma sheet run, where the boundary density and pressure are a factor of three higher than in the base run. The high-pressure run produced better shielding and a stronger SAPS. The second experiment is a cold plasma sheet run in which the plasma sheet temperature was reduced by a factor of thirty, while the pressure remained constant. In this run, the gradient and curvature drift is small compared with thẽ E ÂB drift. With particle transport similar to ideal MHD, the cold plasma sheet run produced excellent shielding and strong Region-2 currents. This is in contrast to the weak shielding and Region-2 currents produced by global MHD codes. In addition, the SAPS feature is significantly strengthened. The final experiment held the magnetic field constant. This run produced marginally better shielding. However, the magnetospheric signature of SAPS is very weak, suggesting that magnetic field variations are important in SAPS formation.

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“…Work at Rice University over the past few years has produced a method of computer simulating convection ia the inner magnetosphere (L < 10). The Rice Convection Model self-consistently includes ionospheric, Birkeland and ring currents [Jaggi and Wolf, 1973;Harel and Wolf, 1976;Harel et al, 1981a].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%