
NSF Org: |
AGS Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences |
Recipient: |
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Initial Amendment Date: | August 12, 2013 |
Latest Amendment Date: | July 6, 2015 |
Award Number: | 1260358 |
Award Instrument: | Continuing Grant |
Program Manager: |
Carrie E. Black
cblack@nsf.gov (703)292-2426 AGS Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences GEO Directorate for Geosciences |
Start Date: | September 1, 2013 |
End Date: | August 31, 2017 (Estimated) |
Total Intended Award Amount: | $117,670.00 |
Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $117,670.00 |
Funds Obligated to Date: |
FY 2014 = $38,982.00 FY 2015 = $40,524.00 |
History of Investigator: |
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Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
3400 N CHARLES ST BALTIMORE MD US 21218-2608 (443)997-1898 |
Sponsor Congressional District: |
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Primary Place of Performance: |
11100 Johns Hopkins Rd Laurel MD US 20723-6099 |
Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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Parent UEI: |
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NSF Program(s): | SOLAR-TERRESTRIAL |
Primary Program Source: |
01001415DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01001516DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT |
Program Reference Code(s): |
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Program Element Code(s): |
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Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.050 |
ABSTRACT
This proposal seeks funding for the development and validation of a new sophisticated numerical model that would follow Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) from their birth in the solar corona, through interactions with the ambient solar wind, and out to 1 AU. The finished model will combine two established, well-recognized codes, "MAS" (MHD Around a Sphere) to model the solar corona out to about 30 solar radii and "LFM Helio," an adaptation of the LFM code originally developed for magnetospheric simulations, that would follow the propagation out to 1 AU. Specific tasks to be completed include: 1) Steady-state MAS/LFM-helio coupling to obtain the ambient solar wind configuration throughout the corona and inner heliosphere prior to CME initiation; 2) Time-dependent coupling allowing seamless propagation of the CME structure through the interface between the coronal and inner heliosphere domains located at ∼ 30 RE; 3) Vetting of the resultant coupled model by performing corona-inner heliosphere simulations, investigations of CME interaction with the ambient solar wind and each other, and comparisons with heliospheric imaging.
If a major CME was to hit the earth it could have major consequences on everything from GPS satellites to the terrestrial power grid. Hence, understanding how CMEs propagate from the Sun to the Earth is perhaps the most important aspect of space weather forecasting. A female PhD student would be trained under this project.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) are among the largest disturbances in the heliosphere. As they propagate through the interplanetary space they cause strong perturbations of the planetary magnetospheres on their way. In particular, CMEs are known to be the primary drivers of most intense geomagnetic storms at Earth. Understanding and eventually predicting space weather thus entails studying diverse plasma processes at various stages of CME formation and evolution, starting with their initiation in the corona and further propagation through the ambient solar wind. Motivated by the complexity of the corresponding physical processes and by the importance of their space weather applications, the primary goal of the proposed project was to develop and validate novel modeling capabilities for studying CME propagation and interaction with the ambient solar wind from their source in the corona through the inner heliosphere.
We proposed to employ and build upon two existing high-heritage numerical models, simulating respectively the solar corona and the solar wind: the magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) around a sphere (MAS) code and LFM-helio. The latter model is based on the Lyon-Fedder-Mobarry (LFM) MHD code that was applied historically to the earth’s magnetosphere, but has been adapted and now used for simulations of the inner heliosphere.
As a result of this project we built a coupled MAS-LFM-helio model with the capability to simulate CMEs from first principles from the Sun's photosphere at the bottom of the corona all the way to Earth. The model has been very carefully validated by diligent comparison of the two model outputs. As the project progressed, we went from simple to complex, gradually adding new features to the coupled model to make it more realistic. We started with just steady state solar wind solutions that did not have much spatial structure and completed the project with a full-blown coupled model with arbitrary spatial and temporal structure. The figure to the right depicts an example of a such a reslistic simulation published in the Astrophysical Journal.
Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) are the primary drivers of geomagnetic activity and space weather. Thus, as a result of this project we have created modeling capabilities for both basic research of the physics of CME propagation and space weather forecasting. The results have been published in two peer-reviewed papers (in Astrophysical Journal and Journal of Geophysical Research Space Physics) and presented at numerous scientific conferences.
Last Modified: 11/12/2017
Modified by: Viacheslav G Merkin
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