Interplanetary magnetic field
polarity has been predicted from
the Stanford Wilcox Solar
Observatory data for years by
kinematic extrapolation, but
these predictions lack the space
weather-critical North/South
components introduced by solar
wind stream structure and
transients. MHD models
simulating the propagation of
both coronal hole flows and
CMEs initiated at the Sun will
produce the basic solar wind
inputs (velocity, density, vector
magnetic field) for the
magnetosphere model and the
background fields for modeling
solar energetic particle events
of interplanetary origin. They will
be evaluated by retrospective
comparisons of the results with
measurements obtained
upstream of the Earth before
they are applied to current data
(e.g. from ACE) and forecasting
tools.
The top image is of the
heliospheric current sheet,
separating toward and away
interplanetary magnetic field
polarity, from a spatially
extended version of the
time-dependent SAIC 3D MHD
coronal model. The lower image
from a NOAA SEC HD
simulation illustrates our starting
point for introducing transients
(in this case a density pulse) into
a realistically structured solar
wind.
Click on the images on the left to view the corresponding animation.
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