Geomagnetic Disturbances Due To Neutral‐Wind‐Driven Ionospheric Currents

Abstract Previous simulation efforts on geomagnetic disturbances (GMDs) and geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) mostly rely on global magnetohydrodynamics models, which explicitly calculate the magnetospheric currents and carry certain assumptions about the ionosphere currents. Therefore, the ro...

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Main Authors: Cheng Sheng, Yue Deng, Daniel T. Welling, Steven K. Morley
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2024-03-01
Series:Space Weather
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1029/2023SW003750
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author Cheng Sheng
Yue Deng
Daniel T. Welling
Steven K. Morley
author_facet Cheng Sheng
Yue Deng
Daniel T. Welling
Steven K. Morley
author_sort Cheng Sheng
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Previous simulation efforts on geomagnetic disturbances (GMDs) and geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) mostly rely on global magnetohydrodynamics models, which explicitly calculate the magnetospheric currents and carry certain assumptions about the ionosphere currents. Therefore, the role of ionospheric and thermospheric processes to GMDs has not been fully evaluated. In this study, Global Ionosphere Thermosphere Model simulations for an idealized storm event have been conducted. Simply, the high‐latitude electrodynamic forcing (potential pattern and particle precipitation) has been specified by empirical models. GMDs due to neutral‐wind driven currents have been compared to those caused by magnetospheric convection driven currents during both the main and recovery phases. At locations where the high‐latitude electric potential is dominant, neutral‐wind driven currents are found to contribute to about 10%–30% of the total GMDs. During the recovery phase when the ion‐convection pattern retreats to high latitudes, neutral‐wind driven currents become the primary sources for GMDs at middle latitudes on the dayside due to the “flywheel” effect and the large dayside conductance. Our result strongly suggests that ionospheric and thermospheric processes should not be neglected when estimating GMDs and therefore GICs.
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institution Kabale University
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publishDate 2024-03-01
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series Space Weather
spelling doaj-art-6cb2e6e08dbd41f9be5f2c98576bd2c42025-01-14T16:30:30ZengWileySpace Weather1542-73902024-03-01223n/an/a10.1029/2023SW003750Geomagnetic Disturbances Due To Neutral‐Wind‐Driven Ionospheric CurrentsCheng Sheng0Yue Deng1Daniel T. Welling2Steven K. Morley3Department of Physics University of Texas at Arlington Arlington TX USADepartment of Physics University of Texas at Arlington Arlington TX USADepartment of Physics University of Texas at Arlington Arlington TX USASpace Science and Applications Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos NM USAAbstract Previous simulation efforts on geomagnetic disturbances (GMDs) and geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) mostly rely on global magnetohydrodynamics models, which explicitly calculate the magnetospheric currents and carry certain assumptions about the ionosphere currents. Therefore, the role of ionospheric and thermospheric processes to GMDs has not been fully evaluated. In this study, Global Ionosphere Thermosphere Model simulations for an idealized storm event have been conducted. Simply, the high‐latitude electrodynamic forcing (potential pattern and particle precipitation) has been specified by empirical models. GMDs due to neutral‐wind driven currents have been compared to those caused by magnetospheric convection driven currents during both the main and recovery phases. At locations where the high‐latitude electric potential is dominant, neutral‐wind driven currents are found to contribute to about 10%–30% of the total GMDs. During the recovery phase when the ion‐convection pattern retreats to high latitudes, neutral‐wind driven currents become the primary sources for GMDs at middle latitudes on the dayside due to the “flywheel” effect and the large dayside conductance. Our result strongly suggests that ionospheric and thermospheric processes should not be neglected when estimating GMDs and therefore GICs.https://doi.org/10.1029/2023SW003750geomagnetic disturbancesneutral wind
spellingShingle Cheng Sheng
Yue Deng
Daniel T. Welling
Steven K. Morley
Geomagnetic Disturbances Due To Neutral‐Wind‐Driven Ionospheric Currents
Space Weather
geomagnetic disturbances
neutral wind
title Geomagnetic Disturbances Due To Neutral‐Wind‐Driven Ionospheric Currents
title_full Geomagnetic Disturbances Due To Neutral‐Wind‐Driven Ionospheric Currents
title_fullStr Geomagnetic Disturbances Due To Neutral‐Wind‐Driven Ionospheric Currents
title_full_unstemmed Geomagnetic Disturbances Due To Neutral‐Wind‐Driven Ionospheric Currents
title_short Geomagnetic Disturbances Due To Neutral‐Wind‐Driven Ionospheric Currents
title_sort geomagnetic disturbances due to neutral wind driven ionospheric currents
topic geomagnetic disturbances
neutral wind
url https://doi.org/10.1029/2023SW003750
work_keys_str_mv AT chengsheng geomagneticdisturbancesduetoneutralwinddrivenionosphericcurrents
AT yuedeng geomagneticdisturbancesduetoneutralwinddrivenionosphericcurrents
AT danieltwelling geomagneticdisturbancesduetoneutralwinddrivenionosphericcurrents
AT stevenkmorley geomagneticdisturbancesduetoneutralwinddrivenionosphericcurrents