Magnetopause Boundary Standoff Position Changes and Its Time-Dependent Response to Solar Wind Conditions: Models and Observations

Abstract:

The Earth's magnetopause is the boundary that separates the solar wind and the Earth's magnetosphere. Its location as a function of solar wind conditions has been estimated via theory, simulation, and empirical models. This presentation compares magnetopause standoff locations determined by all these methods. We use the Run-On-Request capabilities available from the Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC) at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, specifically the BATS-R-US, OpenGGCM, LFM and GUMICS global physics-based MHD models. The simulated magnetopause standoff positions and response time to the solar wind changes will then be compared with the results obtained using empirical models (e.g. Shue et al. 1998), and to individual THEMIS, Cluster and the Geotail magnetopause crossing observations. We also inspect times of extreme solar wind conditions when magnetopause crossings have been observed by the GOES satellites. Rigorous analysis/comparison of observations with models is critical in determining the performance of the models used to capture magnetospheric dynamics. We will also identify which types of solar wind conditions lead to significant differences between the models. Preliminary results show that there can be significant discrepancies between magnetopause locations predicted by different global MHD models. The discrepancies are seen, for example, during increases in solar wind dynamic pressure and sharp changes in the IMF Bz component. Preliminary results also indicate that during nominal background solar wind conditions models do agree with the observed magnetopause locations.